This time last year much of the region was choking on smoke billowing from fires on Indonesian farmland. The “haze” of 2015 was a particularly putrid recurrence of a scourge that has struck annually for decades; one study guesses that the disaster may have hastened around 100,000 deaths. This year the skies above Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and their neighbours are much clearer. The government of Joko Widodo, known as Jokowi, Indonesia’s president, insists it has dealt firmly with the palm-oil and paper producers generally blamed for the smog (some are guilty of starting fires deliberately to clear land; others of aggravating the problem by draining peatlands). But the main difference is the weather. Whereas last year’s fires were greatly worsened by hot, dry conditions accompanying the El Niño phenomenon, this year’s rainy season came early. So it is still too soon to tell if Jokowi has managed to douse the flames.