Less Wet Weather and More Sunshine Expected in the Next Fortnight

Singapore, 1 February 2023 – The prevailing Northeast Monsoon conditions are forecast to continue into the first half of February 2023, with the low-level winds blowing from the northwest or northeast.

2          The wet and cool weather conditions experienced in the second half of January 2023 are likely to gradually ease and more sunshine is expected in the first fortnight of February 2023. However, with the monsoon rain band forecast to remain close to the equatorial region, short-duration thundery showers can still be expected over parts of Singapore in the afternoon on most days. The showers may extend into the evening on some days. Overall, the total rainfall for the first fortnight of February 2023 is forecast to be above average over most parts of Singapore.

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

4          For updates of the daily weather forecast, please visit the MSS website (www.weather.gov.sg), NEA website (www.nea.gov.sg), or download the myENV app.

 

REVIEW (1 – 31 January 2023)

5          Northeast Monsoon conditions prevailed over Singapore and the surrounding region in January 2023. The low-level winds blew from the northwest or northeast during this period.

6          The second half of January 2023 was much wetter compared to the first half of the month. Over the Lunar New Year period, the strengthening of high-pressure systems over the northern Asian continent brought a surge of strong north-easterly winds (or monsoon surge[1]) over the South China Sea. Singapore and the surrounding vicinity experienced cool and rainy weather from two monsoon surges on 22-25 January 2023 and 28-29 January 2023. The monsoon surges brought widespread continuous rain over Singapore and the surrounding region. The rain was heaviest on 25 January 2023 with the highest daily total rainfall of 120.0mm recorded at Changi East. This was the highest daily total rainfall for January 2023.

7          The monsoon surges also brought cool weather to Singapore in the second half of January 2023. There were four days where the highest daily maximum temperature was below 27 degrees Celsius. On 25 January 2023, the highest daily maximum temperature only reached 25.7 degrees Celsius at East Coast Parkway. The daily minimum temperature dropped to below 23 degrees Celsius on nine days in January 2023. The lowest daily minimum temperature for January 2023 was 22.3 degrees Celsius recorded on 12, 22, 24 and 25 January 2023.

8          Singapore received near average rainfall in January 2023. The highest anomaly of 36 per cent above average was recorded at Changi. The anomaly was lowest at Seletar at 20 per cent below average.

 

[1] A monsoon surge refers to a strengthening of winds over the South China Sea, causing extensive rainclouds to form over our surrounding region. Read more at http://www.weather.gov.sg/learn_weather_systems/

 

 

 

 

 

 

CLIMATE STATION STATISTICS

Long-term Statistics for February
(Climatological reference period: 1991 – 2020)

Average daily maximum temperature: 31.5 °C
Average daily minimum temperature: 24.6 °C
Average monthly temperature: 27.3 °C
Average rainfall: 105.1 mm
Average number of rain days: 9

 

Historical Extremes for February
(Rainfall since 1869 and temperature since 1929)

Highest monthly mean daily maximum temperature: 33.5 °C (2010)
Lowest monthly mean daily minimum temperature: 21.6 °C (1930, 1934)
Highest monthly rainfall ever recorded: 566.7 mm (1910)
Lowest monthly rainfall ever recorded: 0.2 mm (2014)