MEDIA RELEASE
START OF DRY SEASON FOR THE NORTHERN SOUTHEAST ASIA REGION
Increased risk of fires and transboundary haze in Mekong sub-region
Singapore, 02 January 2025 – The ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC) has issued Alert Level 1 for the northern Southeast Asia region today, indicating the start of the dry season. In recent days, dry conditions were observed over most parts of the Mekong sub-region as the Northeast Monsoon becomes established. The hotspot and smoke haze situation over the sub-region may worsen in the coming months under prolonged dry weather conditions during the season.
2 The hotspot count in the Mekong sub-region has been increasing gradually since mid-December 2024, with a total of 164 and 335 hotspots detected in the sub-region on 31 December 2024 and 1 January 2025 respectively. While some localised smoke plumes/haze were detected in parts of Cambodia, Lao PDR and Thailand, no transboundary smoke haze occurrence has been observed so far.
3 Neutral or short-lived La Niña conditions are expected during the beginning of 2025, which could contribute to wetter-than-average conditions over some parts of the Southeast Asia region. However, its effects on rainfall may not be pronounced over the Mekong sub-region and there may still be a risk of escalated hotspot activities and transboundary smoke haze in the sub-region.
4 For regular and ad-hoc updates of the regional weather and smoke haze situation and early warnings, please visit the ASMC website at https://asmc.asean.org.
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