Unhealthy air: People wearing face masks while walking past the PETRONAS Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur as the city is enshrouded in haze. — FAIHAN GHANI/The Star
PETALING JAYA: Klang Valley and some parts of Johor are expected to be enshrouded in haze until tonight due to the southern winds moving towards Malaysia.
Climate specialist Prof Datuk Dr Azizan Abu Samah said that despite anticipated rains that could “clear the sky” across the country, the elevated air pollution index (API) will persist in the upcoming days due to continuous open burning in Indonesia.
As at 4pm yesterday, eight locations reported unhealthy API levels.
Klang in Selangor recorded the peak reading at 159, followed closely by Johan Setia (Selangor) at 153, Petaling Jaya (154), Cheras (151), Shah Alam and Batu Muda (both at 139) and Banting at 122.
Tangkak in Johor also registered an unhealthy reading of 122.
Azizan said winds from the south-west are bringing transboundary haze to the Klang Valley, which is made worse by pollution in the area.
“By this evening, the winds are expected to shift from a southerly to a northerly direction.
“While this will assist in clearing some of the haze, Kuala Lumpur’s local traffic pollution will still result in residual haze,” he said.
He said the open burning in southern Sumatra is causing the current haze.
He said that as long as this source remains, southerly winds will carry the haze to the peninsular states on the west coast.
Yesterday, the Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC) reported scattered rainfall across the southern Asean region.
Satellite images identified hotspots scattered across southern and central Sumatra, with a few isolated ones in southern Kalimantan.
Moderate smoke haze, drifting north-west, was observed over parts of southern Sumatra, where several monitoring stations flagged unhealthy air quality levels.
