PETALING JAYA: Air quality in Sarawak has largely improved with only Serian falling under the unhealthy category.
The IPD Serian monitoring station recorded an Air Pollutant Index (API) of 120 as at 6pm yesterday, according to the Department of Environment’s Air Pollutant Index Management System.
An API reading of between 101 and 200 is classified as unhealthy while readings of between 51 and 100 are considered moderate.
The latest reading marked a significant improvement from Friday when three areas in Sarawak – IPD Serian, Samarahan and Kuching – listed in the unhealthy category.
Sri Aman, which had recorded an unhealthy reading earlier on Friday, had also returned to the moderate API level.
In the Klang Valley, air quality remained at moderate levels with Johan Setia recording the highest API reading at 76, followed by Shah Alam (75), Petaling Jaya (73), Kuala Selangor (68) and Klang (64).
Most parts of the country continued to record moderate air quality while three stations recorded good readings.
The improvement comes after haze conditions affected parts of Sarawak for several days with some areas recording unhealthy API levels during the week.
The Malaysian Meteorological Department (MetMalaysia) forecasts rain in Kuching and Serian today with thunderstorms possible in the afternoon.
However, haze is expected to persist in Kuching and Serian at night.
The Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC) said moderate transboundary smoke haze was observed over northwestern Borneo while moderate to dense smoke plumes were seen emanating from hotspot clusters in parts of Kalimantan and southern Sumatra.
It said rain forecast over parts of Borneo and Peninsular Malaysia could help improve the hotspot and haze situation although haze could remain elevated in areas experiencing prolonged dry weather.
