Sarawak sees reprieve from haze

Sunny and blue skies over Kuching city. - Pix ZULAZHAR SHEBLEE

KUCHING: For the first time since Sept 19, there is a hint of blue skies in Kuching.

On Monday morning, the visibility was 4km, a clear improvement from the 2km on Sunday evening.

The air quality also continued to improve through the morning.

By 2pm, the Malaysian Meteorological Department was reporting a horizontal visibility of 8km.

According to the Department of Environment, the Air Pollutant Index (API) reading for southern Sarawak were all within the moderate range.

Around noon in the state capital the API was 51; Samarahan (59); Sri Aman (64); Sibu (55) and Miri (48).

The improvement in air quality was attributed to changing wind directions.

However, in Kalimantan, many parts remained shrouded in thick haze, reported the Singapore-based Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre.

The Terra satellite detected 267 hotspots in Borneo on Monday morning, almost all of which were in the Indonesian portion of the island.

The Central Kalimantan town of Palangka Raya had a reported API of 686, while Pontianak in West Kalimantan, the nearest Indonesian town to Kuching, had a reading of 103.

The Singaporean National Environment Agency is reporting that some haze from Kalimatan has been observed to have spread to the sea areas south east of the island nation.