What began as a tweet from a National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) climatologist has spiraled into conflicting weather warnings that bamboozled many Greater Jakarta residents.

The debate stirred up a slew of criticisms online and prompted President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to step-in and urge the public to stick to official channels, in this case the the Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysical Agency (BMKG), for weather information.

It started when Erma Yulihastin, a climatologist at BRIN’s Center for Climate and Atmosphere, warned on Twitter on Monday that “extreme rain” and “heavy storms” were going to hit Greater Jakarta on Wednesday. The claim was promptly refuted by the BMKG in a press briefing on Tuesday, with deputy for meteorology Guswanto saying that Greater Jakarta was more likely to see on Wednesday “moderate to heavy rainfall, but not a storm.”

Source:
courtesy of THE JAKARTA POST

by Dio Suhenda (The Jakarta Post)

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