Showers to Return in the Next Fortnight Following a Very Dry February 2021

Singapore, 1 March 2021 – In the first fortnight of March 2021, the weather in Singapore will continue to be influenced by the prevailing Northeast Monsoon. During this period, the low-level winds are forecast to blow from the northwest or northeast. With the monsoon rain band forecast to lie closer to the Equator in the coming fortnight, more showers can be expected compared to the last fortnight of February 2021.

2      On the first few days of March 2021, a mass of dry air is forecast over the equatorial Southeast Asia region. This is expected to bring stable atmospheric conditions over Singapore and the surrounding region, and generally fair and occasionally windy conditions are expected. In the latter half of the first fortnight of March 2021, as the monsoon rain band migrates closer to the Equator, short-duration thundery showers are expected over parts of the island in the afternoon on most days. On a few of these days, heavy thundery showers can be expected particularly when there is convergence of winds over Singapore and the surrounding vicinity coupled with strong day time heating of land areas. Overall, the rainfall for the first fortnight of March 2021 is forecast to be near normal over most parts of the island.

3      While showers are expected in the coming fortnight, the daily maximum temperature could still reach a high of around 34°C on a few days. On most days, the daily temperature is forecast to range between 24°C and 33°C.

4      For updates of the daily weather forecast, please visit our MSS website (https://www.weather.gov.sg), NEA website (www.nea.gov.sg), or download the MSS’ Weather@SG app, and/or the myENV app.

REVIEW (1 – 28 February 2021)

5      The dry phase of the Northeast Monsoon season persisted over Singapore and the surrounding region in February 2021, with low-level winds blowing mostly from the north or northeast.

6      February 2021 was fair and windy on most days and the monsoon rain band remained south of the Equator in the vicinity of the Java Sea. On a few days, strong daytime heating of land areas coupled with converging winds over the island brought moderate short-duration thundery showers over a few parts of the island in the afternoon. The highest daily total rainfall recorded in February 2021 was 46.9mm at Kranji on 11 February.

7      At the Changi climate station, the total rainfall recorded in February 2021 was 1.0mm which ranks February 2021 as the second driest February since rainfall records in Singapore began in 1869. The driest ever recorded February in Singapore is February 2014 with a monthly total of 0.2mm. The dry weather also resulted in the lowest average daily relative humidity of 73.8% recorded for February since continuous humidity records commenced in 1984, surpassing the previous record low of 74.1% in February 2019.

8      It was a particularly windy February 2021, with an average daily wind speed of 13.1 km/h recorded at the Changi climate station. This ranks February 2021 as the second windiest February since continuous wind records commenced in 1984, behind the 13.7 km/h recorded in February 2014. The weather statistics for February 2021 are summarised in Table 1.

Table 1: Weather statistics for February 2021 recorded at Changi climate station.

9      It was relatively cloudy on most days in February 2021 with daily maximum temperatures below 34°C except for a few days at the end of the month where the highest daily maximum temperatures recorded were above 35.0°C. The highest daily maximum temperature of 35.5°C was recorded on 26 February 2021 at Ang Mo Kio. The daily minimum temperature in February 2021 ranged between 22.6°C and 24.5°C. The lowest daily minimum temperature of 22.6°C was recorded at Jurong on 18 February 2021.

10      Singapore received well below normal rainfall in February 2021. The highest anomaly of 99% below average was recorded at Changi. The anomaly was lowest at Sentosa at 8% below average.

CLIMATE STATION STATISTICS

Long-term Statistics for February
(Climatological reference period: 1981 – 2010)

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