Wet weather to ease in second week of March

The widespread and continuous rainy conditions experienced in the end of February are likely to ease in early March, the Meteorological Service Singapore (MSS) reported on Wednesday (Mar 1).

With the monsoon rain band forecast to remain over the equatorial region, thundery showers can still be expected in the afternoon on most days of the first week of March. The showers may extend into the evening on a few days.

The latter half of the fortnight is forecast to be relatively drier, with localised short-duration thundery showers expected in the late afternoon over parts of the island on some days.

During the first half of March, the daily temperature is expected to range between 24 and 33 degrees Celsius on most days. The temperature may reach around 34 degrees Celsius on a few days when there is less cloud cover.

The MSS said that the total rainfall for the first half of March is forecast to be above average over most parts of Singapore.

In February, Northeast Monsoon conditions prevailed over Singapore and the surrounding region, with low-level winds being blown from the northwest or northeast. The second half of February was also generally dry until the end of the month.

On Feb 28, the strengthening of the high-pressure system over the northern Asian continent brought a monsoon surge, causing extensive rainclouds to form over the surrounding region.

This led to continuous moderate to heavy thundery showers over Singapore, with all stations across the island recording more than 100mm of rainfall.

Additionally, the rain was heaviest over the eastern and southern parts of Singapore with the highest daily total rainfall of 225.5mm recorded at Kallang. This was also the highest daily total rainfall ever recorded in February, exceeding the previous record of 159.3mm on Feb 4, 1995.

The maximum temperature was below 33 degrees Celsius on most days in February. The highest daily maximum temperature of 34.2 degrees Celsius was recorded at Ang Mo Kio on Feb 10.

The lowest daily minimum temperature of 21.3 degrees Celsius was recorded at Jurong on Feb 15.

Singapore also received well above average rainfall across the island in February, with the highest anomaly of 281 per cent above average recorded at around Tanjong Katong. The anomaly was lowest in Mandai at 81 per cent above average.