Singapore faces unhealthy haze with PSI at 132

Singapore's air quality was mostly unhealthy at 9 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 19, with the 24-hour Pollutant Standards Index ranging from 87 to 132, Channel NewsAsia reported.

The National Environment Agency said in a Sunday evening advisory that the 24-hour PSI was expected to stay in the unhealthy band on Monday, between 101 and 190, after reaching 230 at 10 a.m. on Sunday.

The index, a measure Singapore uses to classify air pollution, was at a moderate level in the north and an unhealthy level in the west at 9 a.m. Monday, according to the report. Hourly PM2.5 readings, which track fine particulate matter, were elevated in the western, central and eastern regions.

The eastern region returned to the elevated PM2.5 range at 9 a.m. after falling to the normal band at 8 a.m., the report said. The southern region's PM2.5 reading had moved into the normal band at 7 a.m.

Singapore's air quality was in the unhealthy band across most regions on Sunday. The west was the exception earlier, with readings in the very unhealthy range from 8 p.m. on Saturday before moving in line with other regions by 5 p.m.

on Sunday.

The report did not identify the source of the haze or cite new government restrictions. The next observable marker is whether Monday's 24-hour PSI stays within the agency's 101-to-190 forecast range.