Menu
Location and Climate
Location
Singapore is a small, diamond-shaped island in the Southeastern Asia, lies just off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. To its north, linked by the causeway, stands Malaysia. To its south, across the Straits of Malacca lies the Indonesian archipelago.
It is about 137 km north of the Equator, while the size of the main Singapore is 42 km long and 23 km wide. Singapore consists of 63 islands, including the main island, widely known as Singapore Island but officially Pulau Ujong. There are ongoing land reclamation projects, which have increased its land area from 581.5 km2 (224.5 sq mi) in the 1960s to 704 km2 (271.8 sq mi) today; it may grow by another 100 km2 (38.6 sq mi) by 2030.The biggest of Singapore’s other islands are Pulau Tekong (18 sq km,) which is a military area but planned to be semi-residential; and Pulau Ubin (10 sq km,) which is a rural haven from the heart of Singapore.
As Singapore is the island, its deep water anchorage and natural harbor on the Strait of Malacca naturally makes it become a strategic location for shipping on the sea-route between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea.
Climate
Singapore’s climate is typically tropical, humid, and sometimes uncomfortable with rainfall. But whenever you get used to the tropics, you won’t feel that discomfort. The temperature rarely drops below 20° C (68° F). During the daytime, it usually rises to 26° C (80° F), whereas the evening temperature is only slightly lower.
Humidity actually reaches 90% at night and goes down to 60-70% during the day, so to speak, the average daily humidity is 80-85%.
Rains and Singapore are like a twin brother. Lying in the tropical zone, the country is always moist and faces heavy rainfall; the rain in Singapore usually comes shortly, but intensively. Rainstorms cover about 40% of the period in the rainy season from November to January. Although Singapore faces heavy rainfalls, it lacks adequate water supply for its population and has to import the water from Malaysia. A worrying fact for the Singaporean is that its current water contract with Malaysia will not provide sufficient water supply for the next decade. The other alternatives such as desalination or water importation from Indonesia will raise the water cost up to almost 10 folds, thus levying a heavy burden on the Singaporeans. Singapore, an insular island, lacks fresh water till they have to pay for fresh water imported from Malaysia, but due to its expense, they may not sign the new contract for the next decade. In order to save bills, the authority has been finding the way to provide fresh water for Singaporeans on their own.
There are 4 seasons in Singapore but the two of them are the main ones. These are the Northeast Monsoon and the Southwest Monsoon Season, interrupted in betweens by two short inter-monsoon periods.
1. North-East Monsoon Season (December to March)
Northeast winds sometimes reaching 20 km/hr. Cloudy climatic state covers from December and January with frequent afternoon rainfalls. Occurrence of widespread moderate to hard rain lasts from 1 to 3 days at the extension. It is relatively drier in February until early March. Also normally windy with wind speeds sometimes reaching 30 to 40 km/hr from January to February.
2. Pre South-West Monsoon (April to May)
Light and alterable winds, with afternoon and early evening heavy rains, including frequent thunder.
3. South-West Monsoon Season (June to September)
Southeast and Southwest winds. Early morning “Sumatra,” Line squalls normally happens in this misty period.
4. Pre North-East Monsoon (October to November)
Moderate to alterable winds with sea breezes in the afternoon. Also, thunders and rainfalls in the late afternoon and early evening.
Travelers may not find an ideal climate in Singapore sometimes; however, the charm of this unique destination attracts large number of visitors everyday and the climatic concern appears to be trivial