My lovely country

Indonesia is a large country situated around the equator, consisting of several large land masses eg. Sumatra and Kalimantan, and hundreds of smaller islands. Many areas are volcanic and very mountainous, some exceeding 10 000ft (3000m) in height. As a result there are many sharp local differences of climate within the country; temperatures are much lower in the hills, and the season and amount of maximum rainfall varies with the different exposure of the islands to the two main seasonal wind systems. From November - March, the country is dominated by the north monsoon, blowing from China; while May - September is the period of the south monsoon, which blows from the Indian Ocean and Australia. A transition period between the two monsoons may be observed in April and October, during which the winds are light and variable in direction.

Other than the cooler temperatures found in the mountains, Indonesia's weather and climate are typical of tropical, equatorial regions.

Rainfall is well distributed round the year and is usually heavy and accompanied by thunder. South-facing coasts and islands south of the equator tend to be wetter during the period of the south monsoon, while north-facing coasts and the northern islands are wetter during the period of the north monsoon.

Although rainfall is heavy, there is also a lot of sunshine, averaging 4-5 hours a day during the wetter months, and 8-9 hours a day in the drier months.Temperatures are high all year round with little difference from month to month. The daily range of temperatures is small in coastal areas, but this increases inland and in the mountains.

The extreme southern islands, such as Timor, may be affected by strong winds associated with tropical cyclones, which occur in the southern hemisphere from Nov - March. Local wind squalls can also occur during thunderstorms. The cooler nights inland and the daytime sea breezes and strong monsoon winds afford the chief relief from the heat and humidity on the coast. (source:http://app.nea.gov.sg/cms/htdocs/article.asp?pid=1114)