News

14 MAY 2025

Workshops, ASEANCOF

Summary of the Twenty Fourth Session of the ASEAN Climate Outlook Forum (Hybrid, MOWRAM Cambodia)

Summary of the Twenty Fourth Session of the ASEAN Climate Outlook Forum
(Hybrid, MOWRAM Cambodia)

Introduction

The Twenty-Fourth session of ASEANCOF (ASEANCOF-24) was hosted by the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology (MOWRAM), Cambodia, in collaboration with RIMES, the ASEANCOF Working Group, and WMO. It was held in a physical meeting format on 22-25 April 2025, including two days of pre-COF training on 22 and 23 April before the COF proper on 24 and 25 April. The theme of ASEANCOF-24 was ‘Heat Health’, with a focus on high temperatures. Participants from the NMHSs of ASEAN Member States created a consensus forecast for the boreal summer monsoon (June – August) 2025 and presented on their agencies work on heat health. This is followed by presentations and discussion with experts from the Global Heat Health Information Network (GHHIN) Southeast Asia Hub and sectorial ends users. 

Welcome speech provided by H.E. Mr Thor Chetha, Minister of the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology, Cambodia.

In-person participants of ASEANCOF-24. The forum was opened by H.E. Mr Thor Chetha, Minister of the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology, Cambodia.

Pre-COF Training, 22 – 23 April

The training was led by the UK Met Office under the WISER Asia Pacific project, ASMC and expert from the University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ), covering the basics of seasonal forecasting, including key climate drivers such as ENSO, the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), and the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO), along with guidance on interpreting and communicating seasonal outlooks. Participants were introduced to the Relative ONI (Oceanic Niño Index) and explored its differences from the traditional ONI through hands-on sessions using the Climate Explorer online toolkit.

COF Proper, 24 – 25 April

ASEANCOF-24 was held a month earlier than the usual mid-year schedule to align with the onset of the southwest monsoon, which typically begins between May and June depending on the location. The first day of the COF proper covered the June – August outlooks by the NMHSs and the Global Producing Centres. For the latter, in-person presentations were given by representatives from UK Met Office and China Meteorological Administration, while virtual presentations were given by representatives from the by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BoM), Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA) and Tokyo Climate Centre (TCC), European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), APEC Climate Centre (APCC), and WMO-LRF-LC.

Towards the end of the day, the consensus outlook for the June-July-August (JJA) 2025 outlook was achieved, based on questionnaire responses prior to ASEANCOF-24, discussions regarding the current climate conditions and predictions for Southeast Asia, as well as using the JJA multi-model ensemble outlook for the foundation of the rainfall and temperature outlook. The consensus can be found here.

On the last day of ASEANCOF-24, there was a sharing session led by the GHHIN Southeast Asia Hub¹, with online presentations covering topics such as heat health and physiology, the effects of urban heat, and heat in the workplace. This is followed by presentations from Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the UniSQ, and user representatives on the impact of heat to their domain. The talks generated significant interest and fostered engaging discussions during the Q&A session.

A Visit to the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology Headquarters

ASEANCOF-24 ended with a visit to MOWRAM headquarters. Participants learnt how staff prepare the weather forecasts and a look at their future data centre building. Participants also got the chance to have a walkthrough of MOWRAM’s Automatic Weather Station.