Pekanbaru. Thick fog blanketing Pekanbaru in Riau on Friday morning disrupted flight operations at Sultan Syarif Kasim (SSK) II Airport. It was recorded that three commercial flights were delayed for more than an hour. Visibility had dropped to below one kilometer.

General Manager of SSK II Pekanbaru Airport, Radityo Ari Purwoko, said that the affected flights were Super Air Jet IU 919, Batik Air ID 7066, and Citilink Indonesia QG 937.

“At 07:00 AM local time, visibility was less than one kilometer, forcing three commercial aircraft to be delayed,” he stated.

Meanwhile, Head of BMKG SSK II Pekanbaru Station, Irwansyah Nasution, explained that the fog was mist caused by high humidity and surface air cooling.

“This phenomenon dissipated after sunrise. At 7:30 a.m., visibility was recorded at 800 meters, then improved to 4,000 meters by 8:00 a.m.,” he explained.

Meanwhile, the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency -- or BMKG -- confirmed that the fog did not originate from forest and land fire smoke.

BMKG Pekanbaru forecaster Bibin S described this foggy weather phenomenon as mist. He explained that mist forms due to high air humidity combined with surface air cooling.

“This is temporary and will dissipate once sunlight begins to warm the earth’s surface,” said Bibin.

BMKG forecasts that most areas of Riau will experience hazy to cloudy weather. However, light to moderate rain is still likely to occur in parts of Indragiri Hilir Regency.

Meanwhile, from noon to the afternoon, the weather is expected to be partly cloudy to cloudy. Still, some areas in Bengkalis Regency may experience local light rain.

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