KUALA LUMPUR – Cheras in Kuala Lumpur and Negri Sembilan’s Nilai have recorded the worst air quality as of 8am today, logging “unhealthy” readings of 164 and 163, respectively.
The air quality in Klang Valley has not seen much improvement since last night, as eight monitoring stations recorded “unhealthy” readings, including Cheras and Nilai. This is followed by Shah Alam (158), Putrajaya and Banting (157), and Batu Muda (154) as well as Klang and Johan Setia (153). An API reading is categorised as 0-50 (good), 51-100 (moderate), and 101-200 (unhealthy).
According to the 8am reading released on the Air Pollutant Index (API) Management System, Seremban in Negri Sembilan logged a reading of 158, followed by Port Dickson (156).
Other “unhealthy” areas are Melaka’s Bukit Rambai (153), Alor Gajah (136), Perak’s Taiping (129), and Johor’s Tangkak (107).Last Friday, the Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC) activated an Alert Level 2 warning for Sumatra.
ASMC said over the past week, extended dry weather conditions became more widespread across southern Asean, which contributed to an increase in the number of hotspots in the region.
Based on surveillance from the NOAA-20 satellite, 241 and 145 hotspots were detected in Sumatra last Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.
Moderate to dense smoke haze was observed to emanate from clusters of hotspots detected in the central and southern parts of Sumatra, increasing the risk of transboundary smoke haze. – October 2, 2023