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SINGAPORE: Singapore recorded the wettest March on record last year following exceptional rainfall due to Northeast monsoon surges, the Meteorological Service Singapore (MSS) said on Thursday (Jan 8).
March 2025 saw islandwide average rainfall of 482.9mm, 130 per cent above the month’s long-term average, according to the MSS's Climate 2025: The Year in Numbers report.
Exceptional rainfall in January and March made 2025 the seventh wettest year for Singapore since 1980.
Last year’s June and November were also the warmest on record.
The short-lived La Nina conditions at the start of 2025 moderated Singapore’s temperatures in the first half of the year, while the negative Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) and developing La Nina conditions in the second half of 2025 contributed to wetter conditions in the region, MSS said.
IOD refers to a broad pattern of year-to-year sea surface temperature changes in the tropical western and eastern Indian Ocean, according to MSS's website. A negative IOD phase causes the sea surface temperature to become warmer than usual near Indonesia and tends to bring more rainfall to the surrounding region.
WET START TO 2025
Last year, March saw significant downpours from Mar 19 to Mar 20 due to a monsoon surge.
The surge contributed significantly to March 2025’s record rainfall, MSS said. The total islandwide average rainfall of 272.3mm over those two days exceeded March’s long-term average of 209.7mm.
January and April also saw notably wet conditions last year.
A monsoon surge at the start of the year saw January 2025 logging 430.0mm of rainfall - nearly double the month’s long-term average. This also made last year’s January the sixth wettest January since 1980.
The monsoon surge from Jan 10 to Jan 13 contributed to about 76 per cent of the month’s rainfall.
April 2025 was the second wettest April since 1980, with an islandwide average rainfall of 364.9mm.
In contrast, Singapore experienced relatively drier conditions from May to August, though September saw a return to wetter conditions.
The month saw total average rainfall of 249.3mm - 42 per cent above its long-term average.
Overall, Singapore’s average annual total rainfall of 2,984.9mm in 2025 was 18 per cent above the long-term average.
The Changi climate station recorded 2,833.5mm of rainfall last year - 34 per cent above its long-term average.
The wettest day on the island in 2025 was recorded on Pulau Tekong on Jan 10 with 241.8mm of rainfall.
Kallang logged the wettest month last year in March with 612.6mm of rainfall recorded.
WARMEST JUNE AND NOVEMBER
June 2025 was the warmest month of the year and tied with 1997 as the warmest June on record.
The month recorded a mean temperature of 29.3°C. This was 0.8°C higher than its long-term average temperature.
The warm trend continued into July, which was the second warmest month of 2025. The month logged a mean temperature of 29.1°C, which was 0.9°C above its long-term average.
While monthly mean temperatures fell in August and September, temperatures began to rise again during the inter-monsoon months of October and November when hot afternoons and warm nights are common, said MSS.
November 2025 logged monthly mean and monthly mean daily maximum temperatures of 28.2°C and 32.8°C respectively.
At Changi climate station, both the highest daily maximum and minimum temperature records for November were also broken.
The daily maximum temperature of 35.4°C on Nov 8 broke the previous November record by 0.8°C, while the daily minimum temperature of 27.7°C that the climate station recorded on Nov 1 broke the previous record by 0.4°C.
Paya Lebar saw the hottest days on the island in 2025 at 36.2°C on Apr 12 and May 24.
Tai Seng saw the warmest month last year in June with a temperature of 29.6°C.
The coolest day of 2025 was recorded in Choa Chu Kang (South) on Jul 2 at 21.0°C, while Tengah logged the coolest month at 26.2°C in January.
HEAT STRESS
Singapore experienced 29 days of high heat stress in 2025, up from 21 days the previous year.
The increase in detected high heat stress days in the second half of 2025 was due to the deployment of more Wet-Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) stations, which provided better coverage across Singapore, MSS said.
The highest 15-minute average WBGT last year was 35°C, recorded at Sentosa Palawan Green on Oct 31.
WBGT is a measure of heat that reflects the main environmental factors contributing to heat stress, such as air temperature, humidity, wind speed and solar radiation.
A day of high heat stress is when any hourly average WBGT at a station is equal to or greater than 33°C. Warm temperatures coupled with other factors such as humidity, wind speed and solar radiation contribute to occurrences of high heat stress.
