Dwikorita Karnawati, the Head of the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency, has stated that the hot air phenomenon that has been occurring in Indonesia lately is not a heat wave.
She explained that based on two characteristics, the conditions do not meet the criteria for a heat wave and are instead attributed to the apparent motion of the sun, which is a regular annual cycle.
“The hot temperatures in Indonesia are not part of a heat wave, and the daily maximum temperature has begun to decrease,” Karnawati said in a statement quoted on Wednesday, April 26th, 2023. The potential for such high air temperatures can occur again during the same period every year.
“Moreover, the maximum temperature spike that reached 37.2 degrees Celsius observed at our station in Ciputat only occurred for one day on April 17th, 2023, based on statistical indicators of incident temperature,” she explained. However, the high temperature has since dropped to the range of 34 to 36 degrees Celsius in several locations. This temperature range is claimed to be within the normal climatological range compared to previous years in Indonesia.
Therefore, climatologically, April, May, and June are the months when the maximum temperature peaks, aside from October-November, for Jakarta.
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Mohammad Syahril, spokesperson for the Ministry of Health, asked people to be more vigilant when outdoors and to keep their bodies healthy.
Most countries in South Asia were affected by heat wave. The Meteorological Agency in Asian countries, such as Bangladesh, Myanmar, India, China, Thailand and Laos, have reported hot temperatures of more than 40 degrees Celsius which have been going on for the past few days with new maximum temperature records in their areas.
In Kumarkhali, a city in the Kusthia district, Bangladesh, it became the hottest area with a daily maximum temperature recorded of 51.2 degrees Celsius on 17th April 2023.
“Meanwhile, the 10 hottest cities in Asia occurred mostly in Myanmar and India,” added Karnawati.