What The Hail?

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Today, Singapore welcomed a much sought-after rain that provided some respite for Singaporeans who had been suffocating for the last couple of days ever since the haze from Indonesia invaded our skies.

There were reports of hailstones falling in several areas of western Singapore like Chua Chu Kang, Bukit Batok and Jurong East.

The NEA announced that the rain is not toxic and Balakrishnan said that we did not do cloud seeding. It is not from the cloud seeding done in Indonesia either as the wind directions were not right.

Although relatively rare in the tropics, it was not the first time that hail has descended upon Singapore. The previous hailstone sightings was in March 27, 2008 over the central part of the country.

The Worst Haze Since 1997?

Low visibility of the Singapore Flyer

As you would have probably known by now, Singapore has been hit by one of the worst haze since 1997. In Sumatra, farmers slash-and-burn land as it is a fast and cheap process to clear space for palm oil plantations.

This inadvertently causes forest fires that pollute the air. The wind current then carried most of the smog towards our direction, leaving our island republic in a hazy situation.

The plummeting air-quality causes many to fall ill including myself who had had a asthma relapse since a week ago but with no signs of recovering.