Relief from heat could come only end-October as strong El Nino extends dry season: Met service
El Nino events, particularly strong ones, tend to delay the retreat of the dry season for much of southern ASEAN region.
Relief from the heat in Singapore is expected to arrive by late October or early November, according to the Meteorological Service Singapore (MSS). The super El Nino weather phenomenon is delaying the end of the dry season, which typically lasts from June to September. El Nino events, particularly strong ones, tend to push back the retreat of the dry season for the southern ASEAN region, according to MSS spokesperson.
In 2026, the El Nino event is described as a "super El Nino" or "Godzilla" El Nino, which has exacerbated the usual dry season experienced in equatorial South-east Asian countries like Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. This has led to Indonesia's most intense wildfires in 11 years, with smoke blowing from Indonesia to Singapore, causing air quality to deteriorate to unhealthy levels in September.
The reduction in cloud cover from October to November due to El Nino events results in less rainfall and higher surface temperatures. The impacts of a single El Nino event tend to last for two years. On average, rainfall in Singapore during October and November is about 490.7mm, but during strong El Nino events, it drops to around 450.5mm in 1982, 275.3mm in 1997, and 351mm in 2015.
Similarly, the average temperature for these two months is 27.6 degrees Celsius, but it decreases to 26.8 degrees Celsius in 1982, 28 degrees Celsius in 1997, and 28.3 degrees Celsius in 2015. Experts predict that true relief from haze will only come later in the year, when monsoon rains reach Indonesia in late December or early January, helping to contain and extinguish the haze-inducing fires.
Written by urgent.news from Straits Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
