SINGAPORE - Love it or hate it, the cold and wet weather experienced over Chinese New Year, when temperatures dropped to as low as 22 deg C, is forecast to continue until the festivities end.
On Tuesday, as the rain came down relentlessly, the lowest temperature recorded was 22.3 deg C in Newton and Jurong West.
The Meteorological Service Singapore (MSS) said on Wednesday that the windy and rainy conditions will continue for the rest of this week, with another monsoon surge on Saturday expected to bring minimum temperatures of around 22 deg C.
The surge is expected to last through the weekend. The last time such a surge occurred was in January 2022, when the highest daily total rainfall recorded was 101.2mm, and the lowest temperature was 22.8 deg C, MSS said in response to queries from The Straits Times.
Additionally, thunderstorms are expected over Singapore for the next 10 days, with temperatures ranging from highs of 30 deg C to lows of 24 deg C, according to Weather.com.
On Jan 16, MSS said rainy weather is expected to continue for the rest of January due to a surge in strong winds from monsoon conditions.
In the fortnightly update, the weatherman said temperatures in the second half of January would range from 24 deg C to 32 deg C on most days, and may reach a high of 33 deg C on a few days.
With the wet weather continuing on Wednesday, flights were delayed and even rerouted – a Firefly flight from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore returned to Malaysia after it was unable to land here due to poor conditions.
A couple on the flight, who wanted to be known only as Mr and Mrs Quah, said they were told the plane could not land at Seletar Airport due to poor visibility and was diverted to Subang Airport near Kuala Lumpur.
“We were informed that it was raining too heavily and the pilot couldn’t see well enough to land,” said Mr Quah.
Wet weather during Chinese New Year also resulted in some inconvenience.
On Tuesday, a group of commuters on SBS Transit service 154 were stuck on the bus for nearly two hours after a tree fell in Dunearn Road in the afternoon.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force said in response to The Straits Times that one person was taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital due to the incident.
Some Singaporeans struggled to find taxis or book private-hire cars during the holiday, according to a separate ST report published on Tuesday.
Customers also faced longer waiting times for food delivery services, with some waiting times as long as 90 minutes.
Grab said there were fewer delivery riders owing to the rain.
Ms Jessica Choy, 26, a client manager, said that this Chinese New Year, it felt as if the rain followed her wherever she went.
“On the second day, it started pouring when I visited a relative in the west and did not let up during my journey back to the east.
“I had bought my festive clothes thinking it was going to be warm and sunny like in previous years, and ended up feeling cold everywhere I went.”
While the wet weather allowed her to cosy up with her dog and enjoy indoor games with visitors, she said the rain made it feel less festive.
She said: “While I am heartened to see most of my friends happy and undeterred by the rain, I feel I would have visited a couple more houses if the weather had been better.”
Others like Ms Sheryl Lim, 25, a media executive, were happy just to be able to celebrate the first normal Chinese New Year since the Covid-19 pandemic began, as most restrictions were lifted in August 2022.
She said: “We had to pick visitors up with umbrellas, but once that was done, everything was business as usual – the catching up and eating.”
