Review of Regional Haze Situation for July 2020
1.1 In July 2020, Southwest Monsoon conditions prevailed over the ASEAN region, with low-level winds blowing from the southeast or southwest. This period is typically associated with the traditional dry season over the southern ASEAN region and traditional rainy season over the northern ASEAN region. However, during most parts of the review period, the monsoon rain band remained over the equatorial Southeast Asia region and brought wet weather on many days to the equatorial southern ASEAN region. Around the last week of July 2020, the monsoon rain band shifted north, and this brought brief periods of dry weather over the southern ASEAN region, including Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra and Kalimantan. This indicated the start of the traditional dry season for the southern ASEAN region. In the northern ASEAN region, rainy weather continued to prevail throughout the review period.
1.2 The rainy weather in July 2020 contributed to the relatively low number of hotspots detected in the northern and southern ASEAN region, compared to the same period in previous years.
1.3 In July 2020, isolated hotspots were detected in parts of Viet Nam, Malaysia, Sumatra and Kalimantan. Occasionally, a few clusters of hotspots with localised smoke plumes were observed in Sumatra and Kalimantan, but the hotspots were short-lived and no significant smoke haze were observed.
1.4 The fire intensity of hotspots detected in the ASEAN region in July 2020 was low. No significant smoke haze was observed from satellite surveillance and ground reports.
