2022 will be one of Singapore’s wettest years in the last four decades

Meteorological Service Singapore (Met Service) stated on Monday that 2022 was one of the wettest years Singapore has seen in the preceding four decades (Jan 30).

The Met Service said that 2016 was the sixth wettest year since 1980, with average annual total precipitation around 19 percent more than the long-term average from 1991 to 2020.

Persistent La Nina weather and a negative Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), which normally result in wetter-than-average conditions over Singapore and the surrounding region, contributed to the higher-than-average total rainfall in 2022.

La Nina is a climatic phenomena in the Pacific area, whereas IOD is a continuous fluctuation in the difference between tropical western and eastern Indian Ocean sea surface temperatures.

The Changi climate station of the Met Service also recorded a total of 210 rain days, the third-highest total after 1973 and 1927, when 222 rain days were recorded.

The Met Service defines a rain day as a day with 0.2mm of rainfall recorded at a rainfall station.

In the last 40 years, last October’s rainfall was the greatest for that month, while the average rainfall for the month was 412.0mm.

The Changi climate station reported 27 rainy days in October, surpassing the previous record of 23.

March 2018 was the wettest March since 2009, according to the Meteorological Service.

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“The rainy weather in March 2022 was mostly caused by the intense solar heating of land regions and the convergence of winds over the island,” the report continued.

On March 7, 134.22 millimeters of precipitation were recorded in Jurong West, ranking second most for the month of March during the past decade.

The decade between 2013 and 2022 was also the warmest on record, surpassing the previous record established in 2021.

From 2013 to 2022, the average temperature was 28.01 degrees Celsius, 0.04 degrees Celsius higher than the previous record from 2012 to 2021. (27.97 degrees Celsius).

Admiralty reported a temperature of 36.7 degrees Celsius on May 13, 2022, which was the highest May day on record.

This exceeds the previous record of 36.5 degrees Celsius, set on May 16, 2010 and May 3, 2016.

The day maximum temperature of 35.4 degrees Celsius recorded at the Changi climate station on May 29, 2022, equaled the record for the hottest day in May.

May was also the hottest month of the year, with an average temperature of 29.9 degrees Celsius recorded at the Marina Barrage.

July was the driest month of the year for Pasir Panjang, with only 38.8mm of precipitation.

February 20, 2022 was the coldest day of the year in Jurong West, as the temperature plummeted to 20.4 degrees Celsius.

December was also the region’s coldest month, with an average temperature of 26.1 degrees Celsius.