Weatherman sees winds changing from Sept 20

Haze management: A sign telling customers to use another door as most doors at this Kuala Lumpur shopping cmplex are closed to limit the effects of the haze in the building.

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.

Related stories:
‘A historic step to tackle haze’
Thick haze back in southern Sarawak