{"id":94389,"date":"2026-10-20T08:06:59","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T00:06:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=94389"},"modified":"2026-10-20T08:06:59","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T00:06:59","slug":"singapore-haze-improves-as-psi-turns-moderate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=94389","title":{"rendered":"Singapore haze improves as PSI turns moderate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"text-primary article-summary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">SINGAPORE \u2013 The air quality in Singapore improved early on Oct 20, with much of the island awaking to only moderate levels of air pollution.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">At 7am, the 24-hour Pollutant Standards Index readings were 89 in the north, 95 in the south and 98 in the east \u2013 in the normal range \u2013 while the readings for the west and central regions recorded unhealthy levels at 124 and 114 respectively.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Air quality is considered moderate when the PSI \u2013 a 24-hour rolling average of six key air pollutants \u2013 is in the range of 51 to 100, and unhealthy when it is in the range of 101 to 200. Beyond 200, it enters the very unhealthy band.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The haze situation in Singapore has improved since Oct 19, where <a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/haze-in-singapore-air-quality-improves-but-most-regions-remain-in-unhealthy-band?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\"><span class=\"inline font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"typography-test-id\">three out of the five regions recorded moderate levels of air quality<\/span><\/a> since 10am that day until <!-- -->now<!-- -->.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">It marks a relative easing compared to conditions last week, when PSI readings remained in the unhealthy or very unhealthy bands on most days.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Meanwhile, hourly PM2.5 levels fluctuated between the normal and elevated bands.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">At 7am, the PM2.5 readings were in the normal range in the north (49) and east (53), while those in the south (56), west (89) and central (75) were elevated.<\/p>\n<p><iframe class=\"responsive-iframe-base st_visuals st_visuals-embed\" title=\"st_visuals embed\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/multimedia\/graphics\/2026\/08\/singapore-haze-widget\/index.html?mobile=335&amp;tablet=315&amp;web=305&amp;section=home\" allowfullscreen=\"\" allow=\"accelerometer;falseclipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share;\" loading=\"eager\" data-testid=\"responsiveIframe\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">On Oct 19, islandwide PM2.5 readings were normal from noon to 2pm \u2013 the first time since Oct 4 \u2013 before spiking into the elevated band in some regions later in the afternoon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The hourly PM2.5 readings are measured in micrograms per cubic metre and are a gauge of the current air quality.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Scores from zero to 55 represent normal values, those between 56 and 150 indicate an elevated concentration of fine particles, while readings between 151 and 250 are considered high and scores above 251 are classified as very high.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"font-primary-headline-md-semibold\" data-testid=\"article-subhead-test-id\">Moderate to unhealthy air quality on Oct 20<\/h2>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The National Environment Agency (NEA) had forecast moderate to unhealthy air quality for Oct 20, with PSI levels expected to range from 90 to 160.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The agency said shifting winds, which blew from the south-south-east, and nearby rainfall helped to clear the air on Oct 19.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Nonetheless, smoke haze from Kalimantan and Sumatra in Indonesia was still observed near Singapore.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Showers are expected over Singapore and the surrounding region on Oct 20, NEA said, adding that south-south-easterly winds may reduce smoke haze blowing from Kalimantan to Singapore.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">However, some smoke haze from Sumatra may drift towards Singapore, it said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Air quality may deteriorate in the coming days.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">From the night of Oct 19 to Oct 22, the winds are likely to turn east-south-easterly, with dry conditions forecast over the surrounding region, including parts of Kalimantan, said NEA.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">This may bring smoke haze from fires in Kalimantan towards Singapore.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The Republic is currently experiencing its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/environment\/spore-is-experiencing-its-12th-consecutive-day-of-unhealthy-air-the-longest-since-2015-haze-crisis?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\"><span class=\"inline font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"typography-test-id\">16th day of unhealthy air<\/span><\/a> \u2013 surpassing the 14-day stretch during the 2015 haze crisis, during which bad air persisted for from Sept 23 to Oct 7.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<center><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/haze-in-singapore-air-quality-improves-with-3-of-5-regions-recording-moderate-psi-levels\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><br \/>\n<center\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SINGAPORE \u2013 The air quality in Singapore improved early on Oct 20, with much of the island awaking to only moderate levels of air pollution&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":94390,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=94389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/94390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=94389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=94389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=94389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}