High possibility of severe haze

NST: KUALA LUMPUR: It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s... too hazy to see anything clearly, for the dreaded haze is back to stay. At least until September.
The northern states are the most affected, with visibility down to 5km in Butterworth. With more than 70 hotspots were detected locally and in Indonesia yesterday, the situation is expected to get worse.
Meteorological Services Department Central Forecast Office principal assistant director Mohd Helmi Abdullah said the possibility of another bad haze episode was high as the south-westerly winds were in the right direction to carry haze particles here.
He said the dry season, when the incidence of haze would rise, was expected to begin this month and last till September, where less than average rainfall is also expected.
He said this was the climate model prediction provided by the United States Centre for Climate Prediction for this year.
Mohd Helmi added haze due to fires in Indonesia had started later this year compared with previous years due to wet conditions during the first half of the year.
Haze due to fires in Indonesia caused by land clearing for replanting is a perennial problem for Malaysia.
From 2000 to 2002, the haze occurrence due to fires started in July, whereas for 2003 till last year, the occurrence was a month early.
While the possibility of another bad haze episode was high, Mohd Helmi said: "But this will depend on the number of hotspots in Sumatra. At the moment, the numbers are fluctuating but when it stabilises at a certain level, our region will probably be affected by haze."
As of 4pm yesterday, Mohd Helmi said there were 47 hotspots in Sumatra, two in the Peninsula, 14 in Kalimantan and 12 in Sabah and Sarawak.
A definite improvement compared to 179 hotspots in Sumatra yesterday, 66 in Kalimantan, 20 in the Peninsula and 11 in Sabah and Sarawak.
A Department of Environment statement said the areas most affected by the haze were the northern states with visibility levels at the lowest in Butterworth at five kilometres as of 11am yesterday.
This was followed by Prai and Sitiawan at six kilometres and Alor Star, Batu Embun, Muadzam Shah and Tawau at seven kilometres.
At Bayan Lepas, Chuping, Petaling Jaya and Kuching, visibility stood at eight kilometres, while at Ipoh and Sepang, it was nine kilometres.
However, an early morning drizzle yesterday cleared Penang skies of the haze which had shrouded most of the State since the beginning of this week.