This project’s goal has been to work with Southeast Asian institutions, archives, agencies and National Meteorological Services (NMS) to build capacities for improving and extending historical instrumental, documentary and palaeo databases of Southeast Asian weather and climate. The work plan comprised research into and cataloging sources of historical weather observations in archives and repositories globally and, the recovery (imaging and/or digitization) of the same where necessary and appropriate. These long datasets will contribute to the generation of high-quality, high-resolution historical dynamical weather reconstructions (reanalyzes). These will allow scientists and policymakers across the region to address weather/climate extremes, impacts and risks in ways and over time span not previously possible. The project launched officially at a workshop involving scientists, historians, and archivists, brought together with the aim of opening a multi-disciplinary dialogue on historical records and their modern-day application. The project has been successful in establishing a regional arm of the international Atmospheric Circulation Reconstructions over the Earth (ACRE) initiative: ACRE SE Asia. ACRE SE Asia is unique, as no other body exists in the region with the same remit or aims.