Bali Rains To Persist Through January

The Bali Agency for Meteorology, Climate, and Geophysics (BMKG-Bali) forecasts that the entire Island of Bali will be inundated with rain of varying intensities through the Christmas and New Year holidays.

The current rainy conditions will persist through most of January 2025. Recent heavy rains in many parts of Bali have resulted from a specific atmospheric phenomenon called the “Madden Julian Oscillation (MJO).”

“When the MJO is active during the rainy or the dry seasons, this phenomenon can increase the intensity of rainfall in the Indonesian region,” explained BBMKG Region III Forecaster Brian Eko Permadi on Saturday, 21 December 2024.

Brian continued explaining that the MJO phenomena typically last 30-60 days. He added that the current MJO condition will continue through January 2025. Bali’s peak rainy seasonally falls in January-February.

In addition to the continuing effect of MJO, Bali’s weather has also been afflicted since mid-December by a cyclonic weather system off northwest Australia and south of Indonesia.

BBMKG predicts rainfall from light to medium intensity over the Christmas and New Year holidays, punctuated by periods of sunshine with partly cloudy conditions.

The BMKG is continually updating its website with three-day forecasts broken down into three-hour periods.

Weather officials remind the public and Island visitors to remain alert whenever venturing outside. They warn that sporadic extreme weather conditions can include heavy rains, lightning strikes, strong winds, flash floods, landslides, and falling trees during the rainy season.

The BMKG also warns of the potential for high waves of 1-2.5 meters in the waters south of Bali. Because of this, beach visitors and watersports enthusiasts should also remain on the alert.