Still too early to predict weather on GE15 - MetMalaysia

KUALA LUMPUR: It is still too early to predict the weather during the 15th general election (GE15), said Malaysian Meteorological Department (MetMalaysia) deputy director-general (Strategic and Technical) Mohd Hisham Mohd Arip.

He said the weather patterns cannot be determined for now because the country is still in the Monsoon Transition Phase which started last Oct 3 and is expected to last until next month.

"There are 10 days left before nomination on Nov 5 and it is quite difficult for us (MetMalaysia) to forecast if the weather will be good or bad at that time.

"However, we will try our best to inform about the weather conditions four or five days before that," he said when appearing as a guest on Bernama TV's Malaysia Petang Ini programme.

The Election Commission (EC) had on Oct 20 announced that polling for GE15 will be held on Nov 19, nomination day on Nov 5, while early voting will take place on Nov 15.

Dr Mohd Hisham said Malaysia is not expected to experience unusual weather during the monsoon transition phase and rainfall is still at normal levels in most states as of this month.

He said during the monsoon transition phase, heavy rains are for a short spell, with clear weather in the morning and more thunderstorms in the afternoon.

In addition, he advised the public not to be easily influenced by weather information spread by netizens but to refer to MetMalaysia.

He said MetMalaysia has various reliable sources to get the latest accurate weather information.

"Most netizens usually refer to sources that claim to be reliable but the information obtained is incomplete, not updated regularly and the weather forecasts are too far ahead of a certain date and are quite misleading.

"As such, netizens are urged to stop spreading inaccurate weather information that can cause panic among the public," he said.

-- BERNAMA