Like everyone else on social media, let's talk about the haze that has blanketed Singapore recently; creating a romantic ambience that could have bloody improved the birth rate in Singapore!
Except that no one could possibly miss the unpleasant acridness that lingers in the air.
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It is an annual occurrence and despite efforts by our government (and the Malaysian government) to persuade Indonesia to do something about the rampant illegal burning to clear farmland and forests, the haze continues to visit us with the situation being awfully bad this year.
Over the span of three hours, the Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) rose from merely eighty (moderate range) to a hundred seventy, placing the whole of Singapore smacked in the unhealthy zone.
Just when i thought things would improve in the evening, the scene overlooking Lower Seletar reservoir said otherwise. The average PSI was in fact lower at 144 but from what i understand, Northern Singapore has perpetually topped the PSI chart across regions.
At 9pm today, the pollutant level reached its highest point ever at 290 since PSI was computed and recorded back in the 1990s; effectively placing Singapore only ten points shy of reaching the hazardous level!
Weirdly, it didn't appear that bad outside my apartment.
It makes me wonder how accurate the readings are.
=_=
On a side note, although Singapore is said to be the most unhappy country in the whole world, fellow Singapore residents have been trying their best to make humour out of this haze problem.
[Latest Update of PSI]
10pm, 19 June 2013
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Officially 321!
Welcome to the Hazardous Level!
It looks better than the 290 reading because the 290 reading is a 3hr average.
ReplyDeleteSo the reading of e.g. 9pm = 290 is an average of the readings from (7pm + 8pm + 9pm) / 3. Hence when the haze is terrible you still see a low reading because the previous 2 hrs were low. When the haze gradually gets better, the reading is high because the past 2 readings were well..high.
Anyway the reading is based on PM10. The PM2.5 should be of higher concern to us as there are the super fine particles
Appreciate your clarification! :)
DeleteActually i am aware of the 3-hour average lah. Haha. Taking from your reference, 10pm is an average of PSI from 8pm to 10pm and given that 3-hr average reading at 10pm was an increase from 9pm, the haze should have worsened during that time frame which honestly didn't appear that bad outside my house (trust me, i checked almost every hour)! :P
Agree on the importance of PM2.5 as it is often disregarded by the citizens!!! Anyway, there is a website that supposedly tracks real time PSI; click http://dashsell.com/sgpsi to check it out!
Cheers!
Cavin