Singapore reports record high in 2022

The Meteorological Service Singapore Met Service said on Monday that 2022 was one of the wettest years Singapore has faced in the past four decades. The average annual rainfall over the country was more than 19 per cent higher than the long-term average from 1991 to 2020.

In 2022, the higher than average total rainfall was influenced by persistent La Nina conditions, along with a negative Indian Ocean Dipole IOD, which typically results in wetter than average conditions over Singapore and the nearby region.

La Nina is a climate phenomenon in the Pacific, while IOD refers to a sustained change in the difference between sea surface temperatures in the tropical western and eastern Indian Ocean.

The Met Service's Changi climate station recorded a total of 210 rain days, the third highest after the record high of 222 in 1973 and 1927.

A rain day is defined as a day with 0.2 mm of rainfall recorded at a rainfall station, said the Met Service.

The average rainfall for the month in October was 412.0 mm, the highest for that month in the past 40 years.

The Changi climate station recorded 27 rain days, surpassing the previous record of 23 for the month of October.

The Met Service said last month was the wettest March since 2009, and was also the wettest March since 2009.

The strong solar heating of land areas coupled with the convergence of winds over the island triggered the wet weather in March 2022, it added.

A total of 134.22 mm of rainfall was recorded on March 7 in Jurong West, the second highest rainfall for the month of March in the last 10 years.

Singapore's annual mean temperature was the 10th highest since 1929, despite the wetter conditions.