Annual monsoon season

• METMalaysia said that there was a risk of flooding getting worse if heavy downpour coincided with the high tide phenomenon and storms
• "The second phase of the monsoon will start at the end of January year and the weather is expected to be quite dry in Kedah, Pulau Pinang, Perlis, and Kelantan," said METMalaysia in a statement today
• "The public is reminded to prepare and brace for the monsoon season and always be alert of heavy rain, strong winds and rough seas warnings issued by the METMalaysia," it said
• KUALA LUMPUR: The annual monsoon season in the country is expected to start from Wednesday and will end in March year, said the Malaysian Meteorological Department (METMalaysia).

article by: Dawn Chan

Climate Monsoons Season In Malaysia

Both peninsular and insular Malaysia lies in the same tropical latitudes and is affected by similar airstreams. They have high temperatures and humidities, heavy rainfall, and a climatic year patterned around the northeast and southwest monsoons. The four seasons of the climatic year are the northeast monsoon (from November or December until March), the first inter monsoonal period (March to April or May), the southwest monsoon (May or June to September or early October), and the second inter monsoonal period (October to November). The onset and retreat of the two monsoons are not sharply defined.

Although Malaysia has an equatorial climate, the narrowness and topographic configuration of each portion—central mountainous cores with flat, flanking coastal plains—facilitate the inland penetration of maritime climatic influences. The monsoons further modify the climate. The northeast monsoon brings heavy rain and rough seas to the exposed coasts of southwestern Sarawak and northern and northeastern Sabah, and it sometimes causes flooding in the eastern part of the peninsula. The southwest monsoon affects mainly the southwestern coastal belt of Sabah, where flooding is common. Neither peninsular nor insular Malaysia is in the tropical cyclone (typhoon) belt, but their coasts occasionally are subject to the heavy rainstorms associated with squalls.

Temperatures are uniformly high throughout the year. On the peninsula, they average about 80 °F (27 °C) in most lowland areas. In coastal areas in East Malaysia, minimum temperatures range from the low to mid-70s F (about 23 °C), and maximum temperatures hover around 90 °F (32 °C); temperatures are lower in the interior highland regions. The mean annual rainfall on the peninsula is approximately 100 inches (2,540 mm); the driest location, Kuala Kelawang (in the district of Jelebu), near Kuala Lumpur, receives about 65 inches (1,650 mm) of rain per year, while the wettest, Maxwell’s Hill, northwest of Ipoh, receives some 200 inches (5,000 mm) annually. Mean annual precipitation in Sabah varies from about 80 to 140 inches (2,030 to 3,560 mm), while most parts of Sarawak receive 120 inches (3,050 mm) or more per year.