SINGAPORE - Dry weather over the coming week in neighbouring Sumatra could lead to hazy conditions in Singapore, the National Environment Agency (NEA) warned on Sunday.

Noting a rise in activity at hot spots in Sumatra over the past few days, with some producing plumes of smoke, the NEA said the prevailing dry weather is expected to continue over the southern and central parts of the Indonesian island.

This has the potential to escalate the hot spot and haze situation there, leading to hazy conditions affecting Singapore, it said.

According to the NEA, 28 hot spots were detected on Saturday and 23 on Sunday, mostly in southern Sumatra. “The smoke plumes are still some distance away from Singapore and not observed to drift directly to Singapore under prevailing winds blowing from the south-east,” said the agency.

A satellite photo posted by the NEA, taken by Japanese weather satellite Himawari 9, shows the smoke plumes from hot spots in the south of Sumatra being blown towards the north-west away from Singapore.

The 24-hour Pollutant Standards Index as at 6pm on Monday was between 48 and 70, which is in the good to moderate range.

The NEA said it is monitoring the situation closely.