After spreading to Mindanao, the haze from Indonesia has further spread to the Visayas, and may even reach Metro Manila, if another storm hits the country.
The state weather bureau, Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said the, “smaze” or combination of smoke and haze, was caused by equatorial winds enhanced by typhoon “Lando”, which battered the Philippines last week.
PAGASA acting administrator Vicente Malano said that wind analysis using the Singapore-based haze information portal of the ASEAN specialized meteorological center showed that the typhoon’s powerful winds may have blown the smaze from peat land forest fires in Indonesia into the country, particularly over Mindanao and Palawan-Visayas islands.
Meanwhile, domestic flights to and from Cotabato airport remained cancelled for eighth straight days because of “very low visibility” or almost zeros visibility as a result of the week-long haze in the region.
