Malaysia: Haze Expected To Subside By Sept 20 - Meteorology Department

Bernama 8 Sep 15;

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 8 (Bernama) -- The Meteorological Department predicts that the haze which has caused air pollution throughout the country, is expected to subside by Sept 20, with the change in the direction of monsoon winds from Malaysia to Indonesia.

Senior Meteorology Officer of the National Weather Centre, Dr Mohd Hisham Mohd Anip said at present, the monsoon winds are blowing from Indonesia to Malaysia.

He said the wind flow towards Malaysia had caused the Air Pollutant Index (API) throughout the country to go up since two weeks ago.

"Now we can see a consistent pattern in wind flow from Indonesia to our country. We expect the change to occur on the 20th of this month.

"Today, we can see the API reading in the Peninsular states is increasing and this is expected to go on for a few more days," he told Bernama here today.

Mohd Hisham said the department did not intend to carry out cloud seeding to produce rain as it would be done if the API reading reached an unhealthy level for three consecutive days.

-- BERNAMA

Thick haze back in southern Sarawak
YU JI The Star 9 Sep 15;

KUCHING: Southern Sarawak is once again blanketed by thick haze after about a week of relatively clear sky.

The air pollution index (API) for Samarahan, 10km from here, was an unhealthy 102 at 2pm yesterday.

In the city centre, the API was 87 in the morning but visibility plummeted to 1.5km by noon.

As the day wore on, the API in Sri Aman – the worst affected by haze in the country last month when the API reached 129 – hovered in the high 80s.

Only Miri escaped – it had an API of 34.

According to the Asean Specia­lised Meteorological Centre, much of Kalimantan and Sumatra continued to be shrouded in moderate to dense haze.

It said its satellites detected 124 hotspots in Kalimantan on Monday. On Sept 4, there were 399 hotspots.

The Singapore-based centre elevated Sumatra's forest fires to Level Three – the most severe – last week after 222 and 380 hotspots were detected on Aug 31 and Sept 1, res­­pectively.

Kalimantan is at Level Two, for exceeding 150 hotspots over two consecutive days.

In its September regional weather and haze review, which was released yesterday, it warned that El Nino conditions were increasingly likely in the coming months.

It said drier-than-normal conditions could be expected, particularly in the southern and eastern parts of South-East Asia.

Forest fires in central Sarawak have been confirmed by the Natural Resources and Environmental Board (NREB).

On Sunday, huge plumes of smoke were sighted along the Bintu­lu-Bakun road, about 50km from the dam.

An early report said the fires were likely started by longhouse dwellers for hill padi planting.

Sarawak NREB controller Peter Sawal said warnings were issued.

Asked if the residents could face fines, he explained that subsistence farming activities, including open burning, on native customary rights land “were not regulated by law”.

“The area was about 2km from the longhouse. Heavy rain doused the fires. There were no more fires when we visited,” he said.

The NREB has cancelled all open burning permits since the dry weather began.

Weatherman sees winds changing from Sept 20
The Star 9 Sep 15;

PETALING JAYA: The haze is ex­­pected to linger till Sept 20, after which regional winds will direct the smoke back to Indonesia.

“Based on wind forecasts, there will be a change in wind direction then.

“Instead of the wind coming from Indonesia, it is going to be reversed,” Meteorological Department spokesman Dr Hisham Mohd Anip said.

He said Sept 20 might also signal more rain with the start of the inter-monsoon period.

Nilai was hardest hit by the haze, with an air pollutant index (API) reading of 139 between 10am and 11am yesterday.

Parts of Malacca and Negri Sem­bilan were at an “unhealthy” level (APIs over 100). Banting in Selangor and Batu Muda in Kuala Lumpur also recorded “unhealthy” levels.

Most parts of Selangor, Pahang, Perak, Johor and Kedah recorded “lower moderate” levels.

More haze is expected to blanket parts of the peninsula and east Ma­­lay­­sia over the next day or two.

Natural Resources and Environ­ment Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said smoke from Sumatra was expected to car­­ry over to the east coast.

He said satellites detected 124 fire hotspots in Kalimantan on Monday, adding that the Department of Environment had written to Indonesia over the haze problem.

Dr Wan Junaidi said he would meet his Indonesian counterpart in Jakarta soon to discuss the problem.

A total of 3,242 open burning cases were detected in Malaysia as of Monday since the start of the year.