Dry weather hampers cloud-seeding, schools shut due to haze

Dry and cloudless weather is hampering Malaysia's efforts for cloud-seeding to overcome thick smoke in the Muar and Ledang districts, and has prompted the government to shut schools in affected areas.

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri G. Palanivel said schools in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor will be closed tomorrow. Other states that have ordered schools close include Malacca, Johor and Pahang.

"The haze situation was worsening as of 5pm and the schools are ordered to be closed as a precautionary measure since the bad air quality will affect the health of students," Palanivel said in a statement in Kuala Lumpur today.

He also advised parents to keep their children indoors and use face masks if they needed to go out.

In another development, Department of Environment (DOE) director-general Datuk Halimah Hassan said today cloud-seeding could be done in a few days depending on weather conditions.

Meteorological Department director-general Che Gayah Ismail said cloudless and dry conditions, as well as with the tropical storm Bebinca (Fabian) approaching the South China Sea and strong winds from the south west are bringing haze, making it difficult for the cloud seeding process.

Che Gayah said as the Fabian storm expected to end tomorrow, she expected the weather to improve with some rain to reduce the haze in the country.

The current dry weather due to the southwest monsoon is expected to end in September, she said.

The DOE reported that the Air Pollutant Index (API) reading in Muar, which has been declared an emergency area, recorded a slight drop with a reading of 690 at 11am today, from 746 four hours earlier. It then went down to 507 at 5pm today.

The API readings for Melaka City and Bukit Rambai in Melaka, which earlier recorded hazardous levels of 357 and 334 respectively, soared to 415 and 428 at 11am. At 5pm, Melaka City went down to 373 while Bukit Rambai shot up further to 443.

States which have registered unhealthy API readings include the federal capital, Putrajaya, Selangor, Pahang, Negeri Sembilan and Johor. The two areas categorised as having good air quality are Sandakan and Tawau in Sabah. In Kuala Lumpur, the API reading was 140 at the Batu Muda station, 134 at the Cheras station and 138 in Putrajaya at 5pm.

The DOE also said the number of hot spots detected in Sumatra via satellite NOAA-18 yesterday rose almost two fold to 118 from 64 on Friday.  

It said the Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC) in Singapore reported that the haze was becoming thicker from fires in Riau Province, Sumatera Tengah, Indonesia.

The DOE also said winds blowing from the southwest had carried haze from Riau to the central and southern part of the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia.