When the haze comes, closing your windows is a good start, but it is not enough. Tiny smoke particles can still sneak inside through small gaps.

​To keep your home clean and safe, use an air purifier with a HEPA filter. This catches small dust and smoke particles. Also, choose one with a carbon filter to remove bad smells.

​When cleaning, avoid using dry brooms or feather dusters because they make dust fly into the air. Instead, use a damp cloth to wipe surfaces and mop the floor. This keeps your indoor air fresh and healthy!

IOI Properties Group Bhd is in exclusive talks and due diligence to purchase two property assets — Chijmes, a retail venue inside a former Catholic convent in its civic district, and the nearby Capitol Kempinski hotel, chief executive officer Lee said in an interview.

IOI is in talks to bring high-end fashion brands into Chijmes to raise rents, which have been depressed by a predominance of food and beverage outlets, said Lee. It also wants a global ultra-luxury hotel brand to replace the Kempinski, he said.

Following up from my post yesterday, u/pmarkandu pointed out that Malaysia already generates hourly air quality forecasts through their MyCMAQ model. So for example, the latest run of the MyCMAQ model suggests that PM2.5 will worsen significantly over the coming hours, possibly remaining at very unhealthy levels for the rest of today.

The images show the hourly model forecasts for 8am/12noon/4pm respectively. The change from 8am to 12noon is quite striking.

Hopefully, this might be useful information as you go about planning your day.

Caveat: I am not a meteorologist. The forecasts from MyCMAQ model haven’t been validated in the SG context (from what I know). Don’t make life and death decisions based on this post, and when in doubt, do refer to haze.gov.sg for official information.

Have been thinking about this for a while…We are constantly told that our birth rate is too low and that immigration is necessary to sustain the economy and population.

I can understand the economic argument. But at what point do we start asking what happens to our national identity?

Sometimes a country is more than its GDP and economic competitiveness. It is also about its people, shared experiences, culture and sense of belonging?

Actually we all grow up being taught to love Singapore. We serve NS, contribute to society, pay taxes and do our part. But patriotism should be a 2 way relationship. Disclaimer: I have nothing against foreigners who come here to work or build a life.

My concern is with the direction of our population policy and what Singapore might look like in another 20 years.
If Singaporeans increasingly feel like they have no control over what their country is becoming, can the government really expect the same level of national pride from future generations?

Imo maybe the greatest risk is not Singaporeans openly opposing immigration policies. It is Singaporeans gradually reaching a point where they simply stop caring as much about the country (sadly)

As western SG officially ticks over into the 'Very Unhealthy' 24 hour PSI range, a few points to start off:

• The 24 hour PSI forecast from yesterday was 'Unhealthy'
• This bout of haze is coming all the way from Kalimantan (see the ASMC overlay of the haze situation against the 2500ft wind analysis
• The hotspots in Kalimantan are more than 800km away. Even if you use double the maximum wind speed forecast for today, that means that the haze took more than 26 hours to arrive on our shores.
• The ASMC has wind analyses for up to 72 hours in advance.

All this means that tomorrow's haze level is knowable and already 'baked in'. We can estimate the haze extent on satellite as it rolls toward SG, we can estimate the surface winds for tomorrow, and yet, for some reason, we don't attempt to couple the two together to generate good estimates of haze levels tomorrow.

Furthermore, this isn't a pipe dream. It's already done in the US, where the National Weather Service generates surface smoke forecasts for the next 48 hours. Not a 24 hour average mind you. Hourly forecasts.

Just think of what this means in practice! Instead of giving generic recommendations for outdoor activity ("For immediate outdoor activities, please check the 1-hr PM2.5 concentration readings and personal guide."), individuals could plan their outdoor activity schedules 1 day in advance. That would be so much more useful than encouraging individuals to constantly refresh haze.gov.sg while we wait for the hourly update.

Point is: we might not be able to stop haze from occurring, but that doesn't mean we should just sit back and suffer. The Govt already releases a tonne of data so that citizens can make better decisions, why don't we try to make a proper haze forecast based on our existing weather models?

Not the kind of Number 1 ranking we want......... :( And meteorological stations are predicting this to stretch till December.....Pls stay safe folks.
ps : Source is AQI not NEA. (tho readings are not too dissimilar).
Correction/ Clarification : Global AQI Ranking based on top 120 Major Cities. Some Redditors noted correctly that some non-recorded Indonesian places are worse - naturally, esp those close/at the epicentre.