PETALING JAYA, Jan 13 — Over 72 hours of continual rain caused temperatures to dip to a cool 13 degrees Celsius in Genting Highlands, Pahang, leading some to describe the mountaintop resort as unusually cold now.
Despite experiencing temperatures comparable to spring in countries with four seasons, the cold has fortunately not caused extra fog to descend onto the popular tourist spot and limit motorists’ visibility.
A police officer attached to the Genting Highlands police station told Malay Mail it was palpably colder than usual.
“I had to leave my jacket on the entire day as it got unusually cold following the non-stop rain,” he said.
The officer added the resort still gets foggy at night, but not so bad as to be hazardous.
“So far there has been no reports of lost motorists, or ones who were caught in extra thick fog,” he said.
A spokesman from the Genting Highlands Fire and Rescue Department echoed his police counterpart’s report, saying he thought he had acclimatised to the cold until the latest shift in weather patterns.
“Normally I would be able to stand the cold up here without too many extra layers, but these past few days I had to pace around to keep myself warm.
“There is no accurate temperature reading in our station, but it definitely feels like a few degrees colder than normal days,” he said.
The fireman also said they also have not received any emergency or distress calls related to the sudden dip in temperature.
“At night the fog can get thick, even on normal days. We are always on standby to assist anyone should they be affected by the fog,” he said.
Malay Mail contacted the duo following reports that temperatures in Genting Highlands had dipped to the low teens following steady rain over the peninsula in the last three days.
When contacted, Malaysian Meteorological Department director-general Alui Bahari said such temperatures were not yet considered abnormal for the mountain resort where the average elevation is 1.7km.
“For Genting to record that kind of temperature is still reasonable considering it being at a higher altitude.
“Unfortunately we are unable to clarify if it is the lowest temperature recorded there, due to the absence of a monitoring station up the hill,” he said.
Alui said the department has also not needed to caution motorists about foggy conditions on roads leading up the mountain.
“For now the situation is still safe, and if the need to issue warnings arises, we will do so accordingly,” he said.
