Situation of Haze in Kuala Lumpur today - June 22 2013

Checkout Haze update on June 23, 2013

Oh my goodness, no wonder we are in trouble, haze trouble, that is! Look at this smoke that's rising from burning areas near agricultural plantations in Rokan Hilir, Riau province, Indonesia.

Choking skies..The Star

Riau province is on almost the same latitude as Johore and Singapore and aided by the south-westerly monsoon winds, the fumes are all blown this a-way. Now we know why these places are all choked up..

The bad news is, the haze is expected to last until August. Horrors! More on The Star.

Here in Kuala Lumpur, the haze is worse today than it was yesterday. Yesterday, the sky was blue with fine white clouds and a breeze blowing but today, the sky is smog-covered with the acrid smell of smoke in the air.  *Cough! Cough!* And it also feels stuffy, like there is no air movement.

The good news is, people are still able to go about their business and I too went out for a roti canai-and-teh tarik breakfast this morning. Saw a number of familiar faces at the mamak shop too.

The local Saturday morning Pasar Tani (Farmer's Market) was crowded like always and a taekwon-do class was in session at an open-air tennis court. As you can deduce from these activities, the haze in KL is still bearable and not with an unhealthy PSI reading of more than 200. The PSI or API as it is known here according to DOE shows a reading of 113 at 11am in Selangor this morning.  The capital city of Kuala Lumpur is embedded in this state, for the benefit of overseas readers.

Let's take a look at the situation in Singapore. The Straits Times reported that the 24 hour average PSI at 11am was in the 175-229 range, from 176-235 at 10am. That is good news. More..Haze update: More N95 masks will be in stock at NTUC Unity Healthcare as PSI dips to 319

Why am I concerned about Singapore?  I have friends and relatives in Singapore. Have even extended them an invitation to come over to KL to escape the bad air - well, at least, it is fresher here than there, I can safely say.. Anyway, they must be coping well.