A slight haze has returned to Singapore, with the three-hour pollutant standards index (PSI) hitting 56 at 7pm on Tuesday.
It first slipped into the “Moderate” range on Tuesday morning, going up to 50 at 10am, but went back down to 46 and 44 at 2pm and 3pm respectively. It started climbing again from 5pm, though, finally hitting a high of 56 at 7.
The 24-hour PSI reading, however, which the government says is the more reliable one to follow, stood at between 43 and 50 at 7pm, which still falls within the “Good” range.
The National Environment Agency said on Sunday that a total of 70 hotspots were detected in Sumatra, with smoke plumes and haze visible in Riau. It also said northeasterly winds will mainly keep the haze from Sumatra away from Singapore, but we may experience “occasional slight haze” due to the accumulation of particulate matter under stable atmospheric conditions, especially in the mornings.
Earlier Tuesday, the Ministry of Health said the government has stockpiled 16 million N95 masks in the event of an escalation of the haze situation, with an additional 280,000 masks in local retailers’ inventories.
The National Environment Agency also confirmed on Tuesday afternoon that its prolonged dry weather spell has been the longest and driest since 1869.
At Changi’s climate station, the total rainfall recorded in February was 0.2mm, beating the record that stood since February 2010, which saw rainfall of 6.3mm.
Last month saw just seven days of short showers between 7 and 19 February, mainly in western parts of the country, while the rainfall totals across 64 rainfall stations here ranged from 45 to 100 per cent below the long-term average of 161mm for February.
Last month was also the windiest one Singapore had seen in the last three decades, added the NEA. It was also the least humid, with a humidity of 74.5 per cent as opposed to the long-term average of 82.9 per cent.
Slight haze returns to Singapore, country sees driest month since 1869
0 comments:
Post a Comment