Central Singapore’s brief respite from unhealthy air quality ended on the evening of Sept 17, 2026. Its 24-hour Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) reached 102 at 9pm, above the threshold of 100, while the rest of Singapore remained in the moderate range.
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What were the evening PSI readings?
The central region’s 24-hour PSI rose from 102 at 9pm to 103 at 10pm. Western Singapore recorded 93 at 9pm, the next-highest reading reported; the north, south and east also remained in the moderate range that evening. The available reports do not establish exact evening PSI figures for those three regions.
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Reports differ slightly on the central region’s 11pm reading: Channel NewsAsia reported 103, while The Straits Times reported 102. Both figures are in the unhealthy range.
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How did this compare with the previous two weeks?
Singapore’s 24-hour PSI first entered the unhealthy range during this haze episode on the morning of Sept 4. Conditions were more widespread on Sept 15: at 6am, all five regions registered unhealthy readings, ranging from 104 in the north to 154 in the central region. By 11am on Sept 16, all five regions were back in the moderate range. The Sept 17 rise was therefore a return to unhealthy air in one region, not a repeat of the island-wide readings seen two days earlier.
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What did NEA say about the smoke and the outlook?
At 5pm on Sept 17, the National Environment Agency (NEA) reported 24-hour PSI readings of 66–93 across Singapore, all moderate. Its forecast was high-moderate to low-unhealthy air quality—a range that anticipated the possibility of the later rise.
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NEA said prevailing winds that day blew from the southeast to southwest and that some smoke haze was observed drifting from southern and central Sumatra towards Singapore. It also observed smoke plumes over southwestern Kalimantan, but its Sept 17 update did not say those plumes were drifting towards Singapore.
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On Singapore’s 24-hour PSI scale, 51–100 is moderate, 101–200 unhealthy, 201–300 very unhealthy, and anything above 300 hazardous. For healthy people, the Ministry of Health advises reducing prolonged or strenuous outdoor physical exertion when the PSI is unhealthy.
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