PETALING JAYA, Aug 27 ― The Meteorological Department said the haze is expected to stay until mid-September, with the peninsula’s west coast suffering the most from Indonesia’s open burning.
The hazy situation is likely to go on until the end of the southwest monsoon season, Meteorological Department spokesman Dr Hisham Mohd Anip said as quoted by The Star.
Hisham added that coastal states from Kedah down to Johor could be the hardest hit.
Sarawak may see its haze situation improve over the next few days as the winds were set to change direction, he said.
Winds from Indonesia were carrying the smoke from Kalimantan and Sumatra to Malaysia and Singapore at the moment.
The Meteorological Department said there could be more rain here next month when the winds change during the inter-monsoon period, which would help clear the haze.
However, Hisham warned that the Indonesian weather could also get drier, which would result in increased hot spots and more smoke being blown here unless the fires were put out before then.
The chances of hot and dry weather in Indonesia is expected to increase with the global El Nino phenomenon.
According to the Air Pollutant Index (API), Seri Manjung in Perak recorded the unhealthiest air in the country yesterday, which spiked to 103 at 11am before declining to 100 at 3pm.
An API reading of between 0 and 50 is good, 51 to 100 is moderate, 101 to 200 is unhealthy, 201 to 300 is very unhealthy, while 301 and above is hazardous.
