Meteorological Conditions in South East Asia: 2 June 1999

Meteorological Conditions in SouthEast Asia

2 June 1999

The Meteorological Service of Singapore reports on 1 June 1999 for the South East Asian region: “Cloudy conditions were observed over eastern Borneo. Hot spots were again observed mostly over central Sumatra”.

Fig.1. Regional Surface Winds and Haze/Hot Spot Map, 1 June 1999
(Source: Meteorological Service of Singapore)

The latest NOAA14 satellite images showing hot spot locations in Sumatra and Kalimantan. “Hot spots” can be identified as red dots.

Fig.2. and 3. Latest NOAA Satellite images of Sumatra and Kalimantan, 1 June 1999
(Source: http://www.gov.sg/metsin/hazed.html)

The Indonesian Meteorological Agency Badan Meteorologi dan Geofisika publishs the Indonesia Daily Forecasting for 2 June 1999. For the representative selected areas metereological data are provided as follows:

Palembang Samarinda Ujung Pandang Dili Bandung Weather condition cloudy cloudy rain clear cloudy Temperature max (°C) 33°C 33°C 31°C 32°C 30°C Humidity (min-max %) 47-95 58-95 67-97 50-73 35-97

The Forest Fire Prevention and Control Project (FFPCP) in Palembang (Sumatra) provides a fire overview map on 31 May 1999.

The newest fire overview map for the Integrated Forest Fire Management (IFFM) project in Samarinda (East Kalimantan) shows 59 hot spots on 1 June 1999.

Fig.4. Fire Overview Map for 1 June 1999 of the IFFM project in Samarinda
(Source: http://www.iffm.or.id/hotspots_map.htm)

Summary: Although the current fire weather conditions do under normal conditions not favour extensive land clearing by fire or escaping wildfires in Indonesia, the consequences of the large wildfires of 1997-98 must been taken into consideration. These fires had caused extensive degradation of primary and secondary forests along with the spreading of “alang-alang” (Imperata cylindrica) grasslands. These grasslands facilitate the spread of uncontrolled fires over large areas.