Singapore Is Totally Covered in Smog

Singapore is absolutely covered in a thick smog, causing the city's worst pollution levels on record.

Forest fires raging in nearby Indonesia and carried over by the wind are to blame for the all-time-high reading of 371 on Singapore's 3-hour Pollutant Standards Index (normal, clear-day readings are in the 0-50 range). Residents are donning surgical masks outside in attempts to filter out some of the pollutants, while city officials say the conditions could last for a staggering several weeks or months.

"We can’t tell how this [haze] problem is going to develop because it depends on the burning, it depends on the weather, it depends on the wind," Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said at a news conference on the smog as quoted by the Wall Street Journal. "It can easily last for several weeks and quite possibly it could last longer until the dry season ends in Sumatra, which may be September or October."