arnold loh The Star 29 Aug 18;
GEORGE TOWN: A strong Borneo wind blowing east to west – over 1,600km away – is bringing up smoke from more than 20 detected forest fires in West Kalimantan into the Southwest Monsoon and towards northern Malaysia.
And this will continue for the next few days, according to Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre’s (ASMC) Regional Haze Situation Analysis yesterday.
ASMC’s satellite has so far registered 22 hotspots in West Kalimantan and four in Sumatra as at Monday.
Wind current readings show that Kalimantan’s smoke was pushed into the southern end of the Straits of Malacca before the Southwest Monsoon took over and blew it northerly all along Peninsular Malaysia.
Even Langkawi was not spared, with a reading of 53.
The archipelago’s API was in the mild 30s early this month when the haze started worsening in Penang.
The only API gauge in the country returning a good reading was in Tawau, Sabah, at 33.
Readings for Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya were ranging from 59 to 74.
Last week, northern Malaysia had a brief respite from the haze and a tropical storm called Bebinca ravaged Vietnam with winds that exceeded 95kph.
The storm’s influence gave the region storm clouds from Andaman Sea in the west, diverting Indonesia’s haze away from the northern states.
Total ban on open burning in plantations in Sarawak
stephen then The Star 28 Aug 18;
MIRI: Sarawak has imposed a total ban on open burning in plantations.
The directive was issued by the state via the Sarawak Natural Resources and Environment Board.
Board chairman Peter Sawal issued the written directive on Tuesday (Aug 28).
The Sarawak Fire and Rescue Department is among the agencies tasked with monitoring the ban.
