El Nino Watch

Fire detections (NASA FIRMS)

Hot spots detected by satellites in the last 24 hours, mostly vegetation fires and burning. Many fires in Sumatra, Borneo or mainland Southeast Asia can mean haze.

Hazards

NASA FIRMS lists places where satellite sensors (VIIRS and MODIS) saw something much hotter than its surroundings during an overpass. Most are fires: forest and peat fires, crop burning.

Limits: a satellite only sees a place a few times a day; clouds and smoke hide fires; small fires can be missed; some hot spots are industrial sites. One dot is not one fire.

How to read it

Clusters of dots matter more than single ones. Fires far away only affect Samui if the winds carry the smoke towards the Gulf of Thailand.

Why it matters for Koh Samui

In El Nino years, peat and forest fires in Indonesia and Malaysia can send haze across the region (2015, 2019). Crop burning on the mainland peaks in the dry season.

Sources

Related

ENSO status now

ONI (NOAA CPC)
+1.80 °C, JJA 2026 (previous +1.39 °C)
RONI (NOAA CPC)
+1.36 °C, JJA 2026
Nino 3.4 weekly (NOAA CPC / OISST)
+3.0 °C anomaly, week of 16 Sep 2026 (SST 29.6 °C)