Visibility levels drop in west coast

PETALING JAYA: Visibility levels in the west coast took a dive over the weekend although the weather remained on the cooler side.

The reason for the reduced visibility levels is not conclusive as air quality in the country is recorded at either “good” or “moderate” on the Air Pollutant Index.

Some Malaysians speculated it might be haze as they felt ill, listing symptoms such as fever, sore throat and sinus problems.

Homemaker Sara Sukor, 33, said she had observed her baby son’s eczema flare up after the “haze” appeared on Friday afternoon.

She said she could barely make out the skyline of the Petronas Twin Towers and KL Tower from her 19th floor apartment in Taman Tun Dr Ismail.

“Even though there is no smoky smell, I feel the haze is getting worse by the day,” she said.

IT support executive, Martin Arulappa, 26, said he had not noticed lower visibility levels in Klang but he and his sister had been suffering from flu and fever since Friday.

“It could be the indecisive climate,” he said.

The Meteorological Department (MET) said Petaling Jaya and Kuala Pilah in Negri Sembilan had visibility readings of up to 4km as of 5pm yesterday.

Visibility was up to 6km in Subang and Ipoh, 7km in Butterworth, 8km in Sepang and Malacca and 9km in Batu Pahat, Johor.

Normal visibility levels are from a range of 10km and further.

However, air quality remained at good and moderate levels, with Ipoh recording the poorest reading of 82 as of 5pm yesterday.

According to the Department of Environment’s Air Pollutant Index (API), unhealthy, very unhealthy and hazardous air quality readings are from 100 to 200, 200 to 300, and more than 300 respectively.

The reduced visibility could be due to the 500 hotspots detected by the NOAA-18 Satellite on the Meteorological Service Singapore’s website, for the areas of Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Laos.

The hotspot map for that region showed most of the hotspots were concentrated in Cambodia and spread out into Thailand and Laos.