Bad News: Haze Might Continue Due to Wind Direction

Friday was a hazy day: we all woke up to the smell of haze, and it was such a déjà vu experience that we wondered whether it would be back for months or just for a few days.

We all tried to be optimistic by believing that the Friday (and Saturday, too) haze was caused by one wind direction. In a Channel NewsAsia report, Assistant Professor of Geography Winston Chow from NUS did mention that “it’s forecast that there is a likely change in wind direction over the next few days to a more south or southeasterly direction, which should improve air quality as long as there are no hotspots and smoke plumes from South Sumatra or West Kalimantan.”

Phew. But hold your horses, because a bad news has just arrived yesterday (Saturday).

Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) warned that there might still be winds blowing the haze towards Singapore and Malaysia. The exact timeframe that this will occur is unknown.

Based on satellite monitoring, there’re spots of land fires in the western province of Riau (last year, the province was put on a state of emergency due to its massive fire).

They added, “With the presence and dominance of winds blowing eastwards, there is an indication that the haze will potentially continue to spread to neighbouring countries such as Malaysia and Singapore.”

Despite that, the authorities have been working on overdrive to prevent last year’s haze: more people connected to contributing to the haze has been arrested and the number of hotspots is lower.

But of course, like what Environment and Water Resources Minister Masagos Zulkifli said, “We can see that even with so few hot spots, the right amount of wind… can give us very bad air.”

So, in the meantime, it’s better to stock up on N95 masks, because while the authorities can do their best to control the people burning trees, only Storm from X-Men can control the winds.

Featured Image: Lodimup / Shutterstock.com

This article was first published on goodyfeed.com