Start of dry season for the northern ASEAN region
In the past week, ASMC’s monitoring has detected an increase in hotspot activities in the Mekong sub-region, mainly in Cambodia and Thailand. Based on surveillance by the NOAA-19 satellite, 28 and 4 hotspots were detected in the Mekong sub-region on 14 and 15 January 2018 respectively.
The prevailing Northeast Monsoon conditions are expected to persist until March 2018, and dry weather conditions are expected in the northern ASEAN region. An increase in hotspot activities can be expected during extended dry periods.