The number of hot spots in Sumatra and Malaysia in the recent week has declined from 293 to 61, an official of the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) said. "The hot number of hot spots declined apparently due to the rain in several regions," ANTARA quoted Sunarto chief of data and information section of the local BMG office as saying here on Thursday. Data sent through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA-12) satellite on Wednesday (July 11) at 5:40 p.m. local time showed that the number of hot spots in Sumatra and Malaysia had reached 61. The hot spots in South Sumatra include two in Riau province and nine in Malaysia, the data showed. The Batam BMG office predicted that the clouds over Riau Islands coming from South Sumatra was caused by the evaporation of the sea, he said. "Humidity is 80 percent, mostly due to smoke and sea water evaporation," he added. Clouds over Kepri province have not affeced sea and air transportation because visibility is still normal.
