Gedday, Below is an article
from yesterday's online Jakarta Post. You'll
read there were major storms
across the Indonesian Archipleago on Tueday
evening. In another
article (in Indonesian) in the Bali Post they talk
about danamge to more than
a thousand houses in teh province of Karangasem
and about 300 in Buleleng.
Anyway, the article below
(Jakarta Post) attributes the storm to
somethinmg called "gusty
storm" which moved up from Australia and across
Indonesia.
So far I haven't been able
to find any similar account in the Indonesian
laguage; so I don't know
what the term "gusty storm" has been translated
from....but I would imagine
they are talking about a surge in the
southeasterly trades.
Anyway, if you go and look
at the TLAPS archive at http://comms.ho.bom.gov.au/tlaps/
you'll be able to find the
TLAPS 850 hPa and sfc analyses for 0000 UTC 3 February under "Past Weeks
Charts"
At 0000 3 February there
is a stream of strong southeasterlies extending up over Bali (850
hPa chart, surface chart);
but there is also quite a strong westerly surge equatorward of the monsoon
trough.
If you go to the NMOC archive
http://comms.ho.bom.gov.au/archive/charts/index.html
you can bring up the gradient level wind anlysys (A and B) for the sequence 0000, 1200, 0000 through 3 Feb. There is a trade easterly maximum sitting over the NT during the sequence; but there is no sign of any surge moving up across the seas north of Australia.
Any ideas or other information on this one?
I'll put the relevant charts ion my web-page when I get a chance
JohnMcB
------------------------------------------------------
Storm sweeps three
provinces
National News -
February 05, 2004
The Jakarta Post,
Surabaya/Semarang/Mataram
Severe storms set
off by Australia's Gusty Storm hit many
parts of Java and
the province of West Nusa Tenggara on Tuesday and
Wednesday, claiming
at least two lives, damaging hundreds of houses and
disrupting land
and water transportation.
The worst cases occurred
in the province of East Java,
where at least one
toddler was killed as of Wednesday afternoon.
The storm also damaged
16 bridges, flooded dozens of
castles and hundreds
of homes, and swept away 10 houses after heavy rains
and strong
winds hit many parts of the province, including Mojokerto,
Pasuruan, Probolinggo,
Malang, Batu and Jember regencies.
The toddler, 2-year-old
Rizki, was a resident of Godang
district in Mojokerto.
Rizki was swept away by the flood and his body
has not yet been
recovered.
The storms and ensuing
floodwaters also cut major roads
connecting Jombang
and Mojokerto, as well as several other
regencies.
Local residents
have been forced to seek refuge in safer
areas, and some
150 residents from Suko district, Mojokerto, have camped
out at the regental
administration's offices.
Suko is one of eight
East Java districts that were hit
hard by floods.
Irfan, a Suko resident
and refugee, said the flood
initially spread
to his home on Tuesday night. "The water spread quickly.
My house was flooded
in water one meter deep, so my family had to stay
awake all night
atop several high tables," he said.
As of Wednesday,
flooding had subsided in some areas, but
dark clouds and
heavy rains remained in other areas, prompting local
residents to stay
alert against further flooding.
Local residents in
Gugut subdistrict, Jember, maintained
their vigilance:
"If heavy rains again pound our village, Dinoyo River
will overflow and
it will flood again," a resident was quoted by Antara as
saying.
In the East Java
capital of Surabaya, East Java Governor
Imam Utomo promised
that government aid would be distributed soon to
those areas affected
by the floods.
"We have asked regental
governments to provide data on
the victims of the
disaster, so we can prepare adequate food and
medication.
"We will also repair
the damaged bridges immediately, so
traffic in the province
can return to normal soon," he said.
In Central Java,
a storm along the northern coastal areas
of the province
has caused flooding in Kendal and Grobogan regencies,
where hundreds of
houses were underwater.
The floods cut traffic
between the Central Java capital
of Semarang and
neighboring Grobogan regency. Heavy rains also caused a
landslide in Gubug
district, Grobogan, cutting the railway route between
Semarang and East
Java capital Surabaya.
Driver Sutrisno,
30, was killed instantly when a large
tree fell onto his
car on Jl. Wahidin in downtown Semarang.
The Semarang Meteorology
and Geophysics Office said the
storm was caused
by Gusty Storm, which moved up from Australia and
across eastern Indonesia.
"The wind, at speeds
of 40 to 75 kilometers per hour,
always rises suddenly,
so people must be on guard," said spokesman
Komaruddin.
In West Nusa Tenggara
province, Gusty Storm halted
maritime traffic
between Lembar Seaport, Lombok Island, and Padang Bay
Seaport, Bali, for
12 hours. At least eight ships were delayed and
hundreds of passengers
were stranded by the storm.
Sutrisno, head of
the local Meteorology and Geophysics
Office in Selaparang,
predicted that the storms across the eastern
part of the archipelago
would continue for another five to 10 days
-----------------------------------------------------------
John
McBride
More Information.
I stumbled across another
article in the Bali Post, titled:
"Karangasem, Bangli dan
Bedugul Rawan Longsor", which translates as
"Karangasem, Bangli and
Bedugul suffer landslides"
In that article is the following (My quick and dirty translation follows immediately after each paragraph). As you'll read, the Bali office has quite a different perspective on the "gusty storms".
-----------------------------------------------------
"Ketika
ditanya mengenai angin kencang yang terjadi di Karangasem,
Kintamani
dan Buleleng, Sunarso mengatakan hal itu terjadi karena
munculnya
tekanan udara rendah di bagian utara Australia. Hal ini memicu
menguatnya
angin barat di wilayah Bali sampai Nusa Tenggara. Saat
kerjadian,
tekanan udara di bagian utara Australia tercatat 1.000 milibar,
sedangkan
di Bali 1.008 milibar dan di Kalimantan 1.010 milibar.
(When asked about the strong
winds that occurred in Karangasem, Kintamani
and Buleleng, Sunarso (Head
of BMG Region III in Denpasar) said the
situation was caused by
the appearance of low pressures over northern
Australia. This condition
triggers (a good word. "memicu") strong
westerlies in the region
of Bali through Nusa Tenggara. At the time of
the current event, the pressures
over northern Australia were 1,000
miilibars, those over Bali,
1008 and over Norneo, 1010)
He seems like a smart cookie,
this Mr Sunarso. I'll go on:
''Karena
angin bergerak dari tekanan tinggi ke tekanan rendah, akibatnya
terjadi
angin kencang yang bertiup dari arah utara ke selatan, termasuk
dari
Bali ke Australia. Kebetulan ada kejadian khusus, di mana di
Australia
terdapat dua titik bertekanan rendah sehingga gerakan angin
semakin
kencang,'' jelas Sunarso. Saat itu kecapatan angin mencapai 40
knot
atau sekitar 72 km/jam.
(Because wind flows from
high pressure to low pressure, the above
situation caused strong
winds to develop which blew from north to south,
including from Bali to Australia.
Actually there was a special situation
whereby in Australia there
were two points exerting pressure such that a
strong wind developed explained
Sunarso (presumably he is talking about
the very strong monsoon
trough that lay across Australia early this week
with strong southeasterlies
across NT giving way to north-westerlies
across Qld, which was associated
with the severe storms we had in Qld). In
this case the wind speeds
reached 40 kts or 72 km/hr.)
Sampai
kemarin, tekanan di kedua titik itu sudah naik mencapai 1.005
sehingga
gerakan angin sudah semakin lambat. Pada Februari 2004 masih
merupakan
puncak musim hujan di Bali, sehingga faktor-faktor yang
menimbulkan
cuaca buruk masih dominan. Hujan dengan intensitas tinggi
masih
kemungkinan terjadi. Hasil pemantauan BMG Wilayah III, musim hujan
tahun
2004 sedang berlangsung. Kondisi pertumbuhan awan di wilayah Bali
dipengaruhi
adanya Trough, pusaran (tekanan rendah) dan Konvergensi dari
Jatim
sampai ke Nusa Tengara Timur.
(From tomorrow, the pressure
at the two points will have reached 1005 hPa
such that the wind strength
will have become much weaker. During February
2004 the peak of the wet
season will still occur as the factors causing
the lousy weather (weather
buruk) are still dominant. Rainfall with high
intensities is still likely
to occur. According to the monitoring by BMG
Regional Office III the
2004 wet season is still ongoing. Conditions for
the development of clouds
in this region are influenced by a trough and
low-pressure vortex and
convergence between East Java and eastern Nusa
Tengarra.)
Me again..SO This is a very
different mechanism being proposed here by the
Bali office (the previous
article: Jakarta Post, emanated from the
Semarang office on Java).
Here, Sunarso (smart Cookie) is saying the
strong winds and rainfall
over the Archipelago are responding to the
lowering pressures over
Oz Interesting. (menarik)
John McB
