Forest fires: Satellites detect 62 hotspots in North Sumatra
Reporter: Juraidi, Fardah | Editor: Rahmad Nasution
29th March 2022
Medan, North Sumatra (ANTARA) – The Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has reported 62 hotspots indicating forest or plantation fires in a number of areas in North Sumatra province on Tuesday.
The 62 hotspots were detected by the Tera, Aqua, SNPP, and NOAA20 satellites, Defri Mendoza, a forecaster with Medan BMKG, informed.
Of the total hotspots, six were detected in Dairi district, nine in Humbang Hasundutan, three in Karo, five in Labuhan Batu, two in North Labuhanbatu, eight in Mandailing Natal, two in Nias, one in South Nias, four in Padang Lawas, three in North Padang Lawas, one in Pakpak Bharat, six in South Tapanuli, one in Central Tapanuli, nine in North Tapanuli, and two in Toba.
Mendoza forecast cloudy skies over North Sumatra on Tuesday afternoon and evening with a chance of light rain in Simalungun, Asahan, Samosir, and surrounding areas.
At night, in general, it would be cloudy, with potential for light to moderate rain in Simalungun, Toba, Samosir, Langkat, and surrounding areas.
On March 18, 2022, BMKG head Dwikorita Karnawati had said that parts of Indonesia will enter the dry season in April 2022.
“Out of a total of 342 seasonal zones in Indonesia, 29.8 percent are forecast to start experiencing the dry season in April 2022,” Karnawati informed at an online press conference in Jakarta.
The zones that will enter the dry season in April 2022 comprise parts of Nusa Tenggara and parts of Bali and Java.
At least 22.8 percent of the country’s regions will enter the dry season in May 2022, including parts of Bali and Java, parts of Sumatra, parts of Kalimantan, Maluku, and parts of Papua.
Meanwhile, 23.7 percent of the regions will enter the dry season in June 2022, including Sumatra, parts of Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, a small part of Maluku, and parts of Papua.
As for the remaining 23.7 percent of the regions, the dry season is expected to start either in January, March, July, August, September, or October.
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