Meteorological Conditions in South East Asia: 6 May 1999

Meteorological Conditions in SouthEast Asia

6 May 1999

The Meteorological Service of Singapore reports on 5 May 1999 for the South East Asian region: “Cloudy and wet conditions were observed over eastern Kalimantan and central Sumatra. Small isolated hot spots were detected over central Sumatra”.

Fig.1. Regional Surface Winds and Haze/Hot Spot Map, 5 May 1999
(Source: Meteorological Service of Singapore)

The Indonesian Meteorological Agency Badan Meteorologi dan Geofisika forecasts clear to rainy conditions for Indonesia with maximum temperatures between 32°C (Palembang), 33°C (Samarinda), 32°C (Ujung Pandang), 30°C (Dili) and 29°C (Bandung) and relative humidity ranging from 45% up to 99%.

The Forest Fire Prevention and Control Project (FFPCP) in Palembang (Sumatra) shows today no updated fire overview map. For the last available map see 5 May fire update.

The Integrated Forest Fire Management (IFFM) project in Samarinda (East Kalimantan) reports on 6 May 1999 11 hotspots with a detection threshold of 303°K. Most of them are located in the southern part of Kalimantan close to the Pembuang River. Please note the detection problem due to substantial cloud cover.

Fig.2. Fire Overview Map for 6 May 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.