2024 S'pore weather breaks temperature and rainfall records

Unusual rainfall patterns not linked directly to climate change: Met Service

- Shabana Begum

For the Republic, 2024 was a year of record-breaking temperatures and unusual rainfall patterns from July, logging its first dry spell since 2019, to soaring temperatures and less rain in December.

The wettest November in more than 40 years was also recorded in 2024, while two unusual episodes in September and October led to intense rain, the weatherman's annual climate assessment report showed.

Across the whole year, total rainfall at 2,739.8mm was higher than the long-term average of 2,534.3mm, said the report released on March 23.

While soaring mercury is a symptom of global warming, the unusual rainfall patterns of 2024 could not be linked directly to climate change, the Meteorological Service Singapore (MSS) told The Straits Times.

This is because Singapore's rainfall is highly variable, with strong dependence on large-scale climate drivers such as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation—a global climate cycle involving changes in winds and sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean. This driver comprises the warming El Niño and rainy La Niña climate phenomena.

MSS added: "Although we project more frequent extreme rainfall patterns in the long term, individual rainfall events cannot be attributed directly to climate change."

But overall—as revealed by the MSS in January—2024 was the warmest year in Singapore, tying with 2019 and 2016, with the temperature hitting an annual mean of 28.4 deg C.