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Being an
equatorial country, Malaysia has uniform temperature throughout the year. The
annual variation is less than 2°C except for the east coast areas of
Peninsular Malaysia which are often affected by cold surges originating from
Siberia during the northeast monsoon. Even there, the annual variation is
below 3°C. The daily range of temperature is large, being from 5°C
to 10°C at the coastal stations and from 8°C
to 12°C at the inland stations but the excessive day temperatures which are
found in continental tropical areas are never experienced. It may be noted
that air temperature of 38°C
has very rarely been recorded in Malaysia. Although the days are frequently
hot, the nights are reasonably cool everywhere. Although the seasonal and spatial temperature variations are relatively small, they are nevertheless fairly definite in some respects and are worthy of mention. Over the whole Peninsula, there is a definite variation of temperature with the monsoons and this is accentuated in the east coast districts. April and May are the months with the highest average monthly temperature in most places and December and January are the months with the lowest average monthly temperature. The average daily temperature in most districts to the east of the Main Range is lower than that of the corresponding districts west of the Main Range. The differences in the average values in the east and the west are due almost entirely to the low day temperatures experienced in the eastern districts during the northeast monsoon as a result of rain and greater cloud cover. At Kuala Terengganu, for example, the day temperature rarely reaches 32°C during the northeast monsoon and often fails to reach 27°C. A number of occasions have been recorded on which the temperature did not rise above 24°C which is quite frequently the lowest temperature reached during the night in most districts. Night temperatures do not vary to the same extent, the average usually being between21°C to 24°C. Individual values can fall much below this at nearly all stations, the coolest nights commonly follow some of the hottest days. As mentioned earlier, Malaysia has high humidity. The
mean monthly relative humidity falls within 70to 90%, varying from place to
place and from month to month. For any specific area, the range of the mean
monthly relative humidity varies from a minimum of 3% to a maximum of about
15%. In Peninsular Malaysia, the minimum range of mean relative humidity
varies from a low 84% in February to a high of only 88% in November. The
maximum range is found in the northwest area of the Peninsula (Alor Setar)
where the mean relative humidity varies from a low of 72% in February to a
high of 87%. It is observed that in Peninsular Malaysia, the minimum relative
humidity is normally found in the months of January and February except for
the east coast states of Kelantan and Terengganu which have the minimum in
March. The maximum is however generally found in the month of November. As in the case of
temperature, the diurnal variation of relative humidity is much greater as
compared to the annual variation. The mean daily minimum can be as low as 42%
during the dry months and reaches as high as 70% during the wet months. The
mean daily maximum, however, does not vary much from place to place and is at
no place falls below 94%. It may reach as high as nearly 100%. Again, the
northwest states of Kedah and Perlis have the largest diurnal variation of
relative humidity. |
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