Haze LahNEA 3:00am · updated just now

Central, 3am. Should I go out?

Short outings only.

No long or hard exercise outdoors.

166
High, band III
µg/m³, down 25 in 3 h
213
Very unhealthy
for planning the day

Next 6 hours, island-wide forecast

  1. 121
    4am
  2. 111
    5am
  3. 105
    6am
  4. 106
    7am
  5. 108
    8am
  6. 113
    9am

NEA advice for healthy adult: avoid prolonged or strenuous outdoor physical exertion.

7

Breathing Central's air for a day is like smoking 7 cigarettes.

Based on today's 24-hour PM2.5 of 163 µg/m³.

So far today: about 1

How is this worked out?

Breathing PM2.5 at 22 µg/m³ for 24 hours carries about the same risk of early death as smoking one cigarette. It compares health risk, not the smoke you inhale. So far today adds up each hour's reading since midnight. It is a long-term average, a rough illustration and not a literal dose. Haze smoke and tobacco smoke are different. Staying indoors with windows closed and a HEPA air purifier lowers what you actually breathe.

Berkeley Earth, 2015Pope et al., 2011

What to do

  • Keep windows and doors closed. An air purifier with a HEPA filter cleans indoor air.
    Choosing a purifier
    • Use a HEPA filter.
    • Smoke CADR at least 3 times the room volume in m³.
    • Keep doors and windows closed.

    Source: NEA

  • Check on elderly relatives and neighbours.
  • Breathless, chest pain or dizzy? Seek medical attention.

Plan your day

Best time out: 6am to 9am today, PM2.5 about 106

  • Go ahead
  • Take it easy
  • Short outings
  • Stay indoors

What is in the air, Central

  • PM2.5213
    Fine smoke particles, 24-hour average
  • PM10123
    Coarser dust and smoke, 24-hour average
  • Ozone4
    8-hour maximum
  • Carbon monoxide20
    8-hour maximum
  • Sulphur dioxide4
    24-hour average

Concentrations: PM2.5 163, PM10 196, nitrogen dioxide 29 µg/m³. Bars show each pollutant's PSI sub-index; the highest one is the PSI.