T

he Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency'€™s (BMKG) Pekanbaru station has predicted that the prolonged drought currently hitting the Riau provincial capital will last until August this year and is calling on people to be extremely cautious about the hot temperatures.

'€œThe extreme weather that has been hitting Riau is predicted to end in September,'€ the station'€™s data and information section head Slamet Riyadi said in Pekanbaru on Saturday as quoted by Antara news agency.

Slamet said that the dry season, which came with high air temperatures, had been there since May and would continue, although intermittent rain has been predicted to fall occasionally.

He said that the air temperature in Pekanbaru currently hovered between 31º and 34.5º Celsius.

The absence of the sun at night, he said, only made the temperatures go down slightly and he added that land fires could still easily be triggered.

The Aqua and Terra satellites, according to Slamet, had detected at least 215 hot spots across Sumatra Island, with the highest number, 192, found on Riau.

He called on people to be extremely cautious against the hot temperatures, especially while they were fasting. He also called on people to put on masks when doing outdoor activities because of the high intensity of dust and haze.

He expressed hope that the drought would come to an end as the rainy season started at the beginning of September.

He said that although rain would probably fall before September, it would be just of low to medium intensity. Rain of high intensity was expected to come only as August was approaching.

'€œThere is potential that frequent rains will fall in the fourth week of July,'€ Slamet said.

He added that in general the weather in Riau was cloudy and bright. The chance for uneven rain of low intensity at night or in the early morning is predicted for central and eastern coastal areas of Riau.

Responding to the bad weather in Pekanbaru, Mayor Firdaus called on people to put on masks while conducting outdoor activities. He also banned people from burning domestic waste, or grass when clearing land.

'€œDo not burn garbage. Turn it into compost. When disposing of cigarette butts, make sure that they have been completely extinguished,'€ Firdaus said.

Meanwhile Erma Yulihastin of the climate variability team of the National Institute of Aeronautics and Space'€™s atmosphere technology and science center said the El Niño phenomenon, an anomaly in sea surface temperatures on the equator in the Pacific Ocean, will continue to strengthen until December this year.

'€œThe El Niño index is currently 1.37 and is predicted to increase to between 1.5 and 2.5. This is the strongest index within the last five years,'€ Erma said in Bandung on Friday.