SIGMET Coordination

To ensure harmonised SIGMET provision, ICAO recommended coordination on SIGMET issuance between meteorological watch offices (MWOs) across flight information regions (FIRs). Building on the successful trial and smooth migration to operational status among HKO, Guangzhou, Sanya and Vietnam MWOs, Phnom Penh, Fiji, Solomon Islands, India and PAGASA have recently joined the SIGMET coordination effort organized by HKO. Other than using the Regional SIGMET coordination platform, MWOs can also use a simple chat box for coordination. Indeed, the handy chat box served as a convenient platform for HKO aviation forecasters and PAGASA forecasters for conducting daily communication regarding weather situation over the FIR boundary.

As part of the SIGMET coordination efforts in the region, ad-hoc tropical cyclone (TC) briefing would be held with nearby FIRs when TC is forecast to affect our vicinity. An example was the ad-hoc briefing held on 11 June 2021 for TC Koguma among HKO, Guangzhou, Sanya and Vietnam MWOs.