Review of Regional Haze Situation for July 2026

1.1 Southwest Monsoon conditions continued over the ASEAN region throughout July 2026. The prevailing winds across the southern ASEAN region blew mainly from the southeast to south, while winds over the northern ASEAN region blew mostly from the southwest to west (Figure 1).

1.2 Showers were observed over many parts of the ASEAN region during the review period, except over Java and the Lesser Sunda Islands, where persistent dry conditions were observed (Figure 1). The southern parts of Sumatra, and the southern and central parts of Borneo also experienced periods of dry weather. On 10 July 2026, the Alert Level 1 for the southern ASEAN region was activated, signalling the start of the dry season. Over the northern ASEAN region, relatively higher rainfall was recorded over the northern parts of Viet Nam and the Philippines due to Typhoon Maysak, Bavi and Noul.

Figure 1: Average Daily Rainfall and Mean Winds for July 2026. (Source: JAXA GsMaP and GFS, respectively)

1.3 The hotspot counts for July 2026 over the ASEAN region were generally comparable to previous years (Figure 2 and 3), except in Cambodia, where hotspot counts were slightly higher relative to the past four years (Figure 3).

Figure 2: Hotspot counts for the southern ASEAN region for July (2022-2026) based on NOAA-20 satellite surveillance.

Figure 3: Hotspot counts for the northern ASEAN region for July (2022-2026) based on NOAA-20 satellite surveillance.

1.4 Hotspot activities were more persistent in West Kalimantan and parts of the Lesser Sunda Islands towards the latter half of the review period (Figure 4), with more intense fires detected in West Kalimantan as well (Figure 5). Slight to moderate smoke plumes were observed mainly over Java, parts of Borneo, and the northern and southern parts of Sumatra, with transboundary smoke haze observed to drift from West Kalimantan into the western parts of Sarawak on a few days (Figures 6 – 10). Slight to moderate smoke plumes were also observed over the central parts of Cambodia and Viet Nam on a few days.

Figure 4: Distribution of hotspots detected in July 2026 based on NOAA-20 satellite surveillance.

Figure 5: Maximum fire intensity in July 2026 based on NOAA-20 satellite surveillance.

Figure 6: Number of days with moderate to dense smoke haze observed in July 2026 based on satellite imagery, ground observations, and air quality reports.

Figure 7: Moderate localised smoke plume observed over the northern parts of Sumatra on 8 July 2026. (Source: Himawari-9 satellite surveillance)

Figure 8: Moderate smoke plumes observed over West Kalimantan drifting in the northwest direction into the western part of Sarawak on 15 July 2026. (Source: Himawari-9 satellite surveillance)

Figure 9: Slight to moderate localised smoke plumes observed over the eastern parts of Java on 17 July 2026. (Source: Himawari-9 satellite surveillance)

Figure 10: Moderate localised smoke plumes observed over Central and South Kalimantan on 26 July 2026. (Source: Himawari-9 satellite surveillance)