Climate Monitoring Node – WMO-RCC-SEA –DOST-PAGASA

Area of moderate rainfall deficiencies have been observed in some parts of Southeast Asia region, particularly over Cambodia, most parts of Thailand, southern Myanmar, Malaysia, north and central parts of the Philippines, and parts of Indonesia (especially northern Sumatra, Java, and Papua). Southern parts of Lao PDR, parts of Viet Nam, and Brunei Darussalam also recorded mild to moderate rainfall deficiencies, while most of the other region received adequate rainfall for the month of February.

Strong warming of sea surface temperatures (SSTs) across the tropical Pacific prevailed during the month with anomalies greater than 1.0°C - 1.6°C in most of the Niño regions. However, the SST anomalies in the western Pacific and over most of the Maritime Continent were near to above average.

IOD values were near average during the month as SSTs observed over the western equatorial Indian Ocean were slightly warmer than the eastern equatorial Indian Ocean. The SST over the eastern Indian Ocean has returned to near neutral.

A Madden–Julian Oscillation (MJO) signal was active through most of first half of February, with the active phase over the Western Pacific at the start of the month (characterized by suppressed convection and precipitation over the Maritime Continent) up to the middle of the month, followed by an period of no MJO activity. An MJO signal then emerged over the Indian Ocean at the end of the month.