Southeast Asia smog abates

Southeast Asia smog abates

SINGAPORE (Reuters): The weakening of the El Nio weather phenomenon may reduce the chances of choking smog blanketing Southeast Asia this year, weather experts said yesterday.

"El Nio is going to end soon and there is a greater chance the situation will be much better than last year," Woon Shih Lai, director of Meteorological Service Singapore, told a news conference.

El Nio, which helped make last year especially dry in Southeast Asia, has been blamed for the intensity of fires in Indonesia as the dry weather parched forests and left them susceptible to blazes.

The El Nio weather pattern is expected to die by the end of June, GOP Obasi, secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization, said.