Rising Heavy Precipitation Amid Declining Typhoon Influence in Southeast Asia

Heavy rainfall is a major climate hazard in Southeast Asia, traditionally associated with tropical cyclones. A new study led by Asst. Prof Jingyu Wang, the Heat Cluster Lead at the Centre for Climate Change and Environmental Health (CCEH), shows that this relationship has been changing over the past six decades.

Published on 17 December in the Environmental Research series of IOP Science, the study analyses precipitation trends across Southeast Asia from 1960 to 2024 using typhoon track data and high-resolution rainfall datasets. The findings reveal a significant decline in the contribution of typhoon-related rainfall, including during extreme precipitation events. In contrast, non-typhoon heavy precipitation events are becoming more spatially extensive, generating greater total rainfall per event.

Together, these findings indicate a shift in Southeast Asia’s precipitation hazard regime, where flood risk is increasingly shaped by large-scale non-typhoon rainfall systems rather than tropical cyclones alone. The results highlight the need for disaster-risk management and climate adaptation strategies to evolve alongside changing regional precipitation dynamics.

Read the full article Here: https://iopscience.iop.org/