KUALA LUMPUR – The air quality in Johor’s Larkin, Batu Pahat, and Port Dickson are at unhealthy levels as of 9am today, while several areas in the Klang Valley recorded moderate readings.
The hourly readings released on the Air Pollutant Index (API) Management System website showed that Larkin recorded the highest reading at 150, followed by Batu Pahat (104), Negri Sembilan’s Port Dickson (102), Nilai (100), and Penang’s Seberang Jaya (99).
An API reading is categorised as 0-50 (good), 51-100 (moderate), and 101-200 (unhealthy).
Larkin’s readings saw a steady hourly rise since midnight, starting at 103. Also, Johor’s Tangkak recorded an air quality of 92, Segamat at 91, and Pasir Gudang at 90.
Melaka’s city centre recorded an API reading of 92 and Bukit Rambai at 97.
Meanwhile, Cheras is at 96, followed by Banting (95), Putrajaya and Klang (87), Seremban (86), Shah Alam (85), Batu Muda (84), Petaling Jaya (81), and Johan Setia (80).
It is clear skies in East Malaysia, with most areas in Sabah and Sarawak having good air quality.
On 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 have become more widespread across southern Asean, which has 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 on 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 1, 2023