InVinoVeritas

They should should rename the country Malhazea.

Gunnar45

Perfect!

bakedbean

Yes it's been particularly bad this year. I'm into my 6th year in Penang and this has been the worst haze by a mile and, for me, no option to escape this year. Will other future years be the same? I really don't know.

In previous years, it's been a week or two here and there. You put up with that. But I certainly wouldn't put up with two whole months of the year again.

Stuurman

I beg to differ, I have lived in Malaysia from 2009 to 2015 and all these years we had haze problems for several months, not weeks. (mostly in the period June to September). Over the years we have stayed in Malaysia it seemed to get worse every year. For us the continuing and increasing haze problem was one of the reasons to pack up and leave.

bakedbean

Well I've been here almost the same time 2010 to right now and this is the first year I've noticed it to be pretty much non-stop haze. And I have hardly travelled the last 3 years. Is it just El Nino effect? I guess we will know next year.

But what about the Northern Thailand haze? That's January to April, right? You don't mind that? That's been going on for years. And I gather in Laos and Cambodia too.

Stuurman

We were in Northern Thailand end February till mid March and had some hazy days then. We were told by the locals it was pretty bad but to us it seemed less severe than what we experienced in Penang. From what I read about it and heard from friends who have been staying here for many years it's normally a few weeks per year, most of the time in the month before Songkran. The source of the haze is also different than in the South, local farmers are burning rice fields and undergrowth in the forest, a decent shower puts the fire out and clears the sky immediately.

We still have to find out how it will affect us but since we moved here in April we had clear skies and clean air.

owned

I really don't see the problem.

I lived in a rural part of southern mainland China for 12 years before Penang and everyday looked like a very bad hazy day. You might get 2 or 3 weeks of clear in late September or October, but for the rest of the year is haze. Air Pollution indexes never go below 140 where I used to live and could be as high as 300 for weeks on end.

I can put up with haze here as I've been coming on and off to Penang for the last 10 years and know that its been great from December to June most years. That's 7 months of no haze, not 3 weeks I've been used too.

I also put the haze down to humidity in China. Days of low humidity, less than 70% would have clear sky's even if the API was very high around 300. Days with a low API around 140 but with 95% humidity would have visibility down to less than 100 meters. You are after all trying to look though a cloud at that stage. So I don't blame pollution that much, humidity has lot more to do with it.

InVinoVeritas

Yes, I made exactly this point in another thread. If the air was cooler and drier the smoke would go straight up instead of hanging around at nostril-level. I would rather they concentrated on fixing the humidity problem which is bad ALL year.

Gunnar45

I guess that if they cut down all the forests, they will get rid of the humidity, so we are well on the way! Just have to bear with a few more years of haze.

owned

Its bad today as high winds from south west. If it was northerly winds it would be clear.

Don't get me wrong on the humidity, I was blaming bad visibility in China for that. Yep its the forest fire's that the cause of our problems here, it even smells like your in a forest fire today. My point is that I'm not personally offended by it because I've come from worse, but can totally accept the grievances of those that are. And while it doesn't effect me personally, I am very concerned for the rest of the world, as there are more carbon emissions emitted in 2 months by the forest fires than the whole of the UK's output in 1 year.

But nothing will be done as Indonesia is not a place of strategic importance, financial importance and doesn't really have anything anyone wants. World governments could spend money addressing the problem, but they will want something in return, and I can't work out what can be given back for there efforts.

bakedbean

and while they were at it, could fix the temperature a bit too. Maybe a nice 25 degrees C

Gunnar45

Cheaper beer and wine anyone?

bakedbean

bakedbean

Here's yesterday's Haze map:
Home – Regional Haze Situation |

Lucky ol' Singapore somehow missed it yesterday. It's interesting that the winds are NOT predominantly south-west. We are clearly into "inter-monsoon" winds, so let's hope the north-east winds come early. Probably unlikely but we can hope.

bakedbean

Some flights being cancelled now.