Air quality across all five regions of Singapore entered the unhealthy range on Tuesday, the first time this has happened since September 2019 as haze conditions worsened.
The 24-hour Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) in the central region reached 154 at 6am, making it the worst-affected area, while the northern region became the fifth and final region to enter the unhealthy band after its PSI reached 104.
By 8am, the central region’s PSI stood at 151, followed by the west at 126, east at 124, south at 108 and north at 104.
A PSI reading between 101 and 200 is classified as unhealthy, while readings between 201 and 300 are considered very unhealthy and those above 300 hazardous.
Singapore’s National Environment Agency (NEA) said on Monday that the 24-hour PSI was forecast to remain in the high moderate to mid unhealthy range.
It said moderate to dense smoke plumes from fires in Kalimantan had drifted towards Singapore following a shift in prevailing winds to an east-southeasterly direction, with some smoke haze also moving in from southern Sumatra.
“Dry conditions are forecast over Singapore and the surrounding region in the coming days. With the prevailing winds forecast to continue blowing from the southeast to east-southeast, Singapore will likely be affected by smoke haze,” NEA said.
The central region first entered the unhealthy PSI range on Sept 4 for the first time since 2023, prompting NEA to begin issuing daily haze advisories.
Four of Singapore’s five regions had entered the unhealthy range by Monday night, with the eastern and western regions crossing the threshold at 4pm.
CNA
