Air quality across Singapore remains in unhealthy range

On Wednesday, the 1-hour PM2.5 reading in the west rose to 152 at 4pm, entering the “high” band for the first time this haze season, before falling back into the elevated band an hour later.

In its latest update on Thursday morning, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said moderate transboundary smoke haze was covering parts of Singapore, Peninsular Malaysia, Kalimantan, Sarawak and Sumatra’s southern and central parts.

Moderate to dense smoke plumes were also observed from hotspot clusters detected in large parts of Kalimantan, as well as central and southern areas in Sumatra.

While there were scattered hotspots detected in Kalimantan and Sumatra, only a few were observed elsewhere in southern ASEAN, said NEA. 

However, the full extent of the situation could not be determined because of thick smoke haze and cloud cover, the agency said.

Dry conditions are expected to continue over most of southern ASEAN, except over Borneo’s northern areas, as well as parts of Sumatra and Peninsular Malaysia where showers are forecast.

“The hotspot and smoke haze situation may improve in areas experiencing showers but also continue to stay elevated in areas experiencing prolonged periods of dry weather, with a continued risk of transboundary haze occurrence,” said NEA. 

“On the other hand, wet weather is expected to persist over the northern ASEAN region, which helps to keep the hotspot and smoke haze situation subdued.”