Bangkok Air Pollution

[MaxYakov]

2 hours ago, uhuh said:

Terrible haze when looking out of my window (high floor) towards the airport.

Has been bad for days,  today's very bad.

I don't trust air4thai, but even aqicn.org claims that the air is not too bad ( yellow readings for the last couple of days, right now 97 - and 76 at Chula).

 

 

Anybody with independent meters for pm2.5 can confirm that this is natural haze and not pm2.5?

I'd take my JHC meter out to the balcony and take a reading except the pollution seems to be a bit spotty across Bangkok so my reading at Asok probably wouldn't be worth much. I (sort of) trust aqicn.org vs my JHC meter. Anyway, it apparently just went "unhealthy/red" late in the morning (aqicn.org). AirVisual is confirming this only 6 points under RTAQ at 151. Hope this helps confirm that you should definitely shelter in place or wear an effective mask if going out. I wouldn't recommend jogging while bare-faced (as I see many do). ????

 

[uhuh]

Chula didn't update fast enough today,  therefore the discrepancy between aqicn 76 and in reality terrible smog, it looked like 150.

 

BTW the smog I see daily is over Ladkrabang/Onnut/Suvannabhum - aqicn gives no values for this area

[edwardandtubs]

59 minutes ago, uhuh said:

Chula didn't update fast enough today,  therefore the discrepancy between aqicn 76 and in reality terrible smog, it looked like 150.

 

BTW the smog I see daily is over Ladkrabang/Onnut/Suvannabhum - aqicn gives no values for this area

Download the AirVisual app. It's uses independent readings from all over Bangkok.

[uncleeagle]

Is the air now bad enough that people are warning potential visitors to postpone travel to Bangkok? Or would that be an overreaction?

[lopburi3]

14 minutes ago, uncleeagle said:

Is the air now bad enough that people are warning potential visitors to postpone travel to Bangkok? Or would that be an overreaction?

It is still better than many areas of Thailand - and Thailand is still better than some other countries in the area.  But that is not to say it is good - more than water pistols need to be aimed at reducing it.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

The air has not been good in BKK today.... mostly high orange/unhealthy for sensitive people values and some times/places getting into the low red/hazardous for all levels (150+ AQI). But it looked like the hourly levels were trending somewhat downward from midday heading into late afternoon.  Still, when we went out this afternoon, it was 3M mask wearing time.

 

However, I'll agree, thus far this December, it seems without going back and checking directly, that the air quality levels have not been so bad this December in BKK as they were a year ago... May be a function of differing weather conditions and such. It's certainly not due to anything the government here has / hasn't done to address the problem.

 

 

PS - Ya, something going on with the Chula reporting station today. They haven't updated their values since 9 am this morning.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Here's the actual comparison for Dec. 2019 vs Dec. 2018 for the Chula BKK reporting station. Pretty close overall.... more low orange this month, but more high orange last year. Worth noting -- NO "Good" air days in either of the two Decembers.

 

The graphics below use the following AQI color key:

 

Dec. 2019 (month thus far)

Light Green/Low Moderate -- 3 days

Yellow/High Moderate -- 8 days

Low Orange/Unhealthy Sensitive -- 14 days 

High Orange/Unhealthy Sensitive -- 2 days

 

Dec. 2018

Light Green/Low Moderate -- 2 days

Yellow/High Moderate -- 15 days

Low Orange/Unhealthy Sensitive -- 9 days

High Orange/Unhealthy Sensitive -- 5 days

 

But January 2019 a year ago was when it got really bad in BKK, much worse than December 2018.

 

So we'll have to wait and see what the coming January holds.

 

[TerraplaneGuy]

1 hour ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

....

However, I'll agree, thus far this December, it seems without going back and checking directly, that the air quality levels have not been so bad this December in BKK as they were a year ago... May be a function of differing weather conditions and such. It's certainly not due to anything the government here has / hasn't done to address the problem.

...

 

According to aqicn.org the air for Bangkok this December looks at least as bad as last year although there's still a few days to go.  A little hard to compare because the mix is different.  But in Dec. 2018 there were 14 orange days (i.e. unhealthy for sensitives).  This month there's 23 orange days.  The reason last year seemed worse is there were 5 red days and we haven't had any this month, just stretches of red hours.   But last year there were 12 days that were moderate or better (green or yellow) and this month only 4.  In other words, last year December had more extremes but this December is consistently poor.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

The North is getting reamed today...  Too many incense sticks???

 

 

That above is the all Thailand view... Below is the BKK view, which is much better by comparison.

 

[MaxYakov]

45 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

The North is getting reamed today...  Too many incense sticks???

 

 

That above is the all Thailand view... Below is the BKK view, which is much better by comparison.

 

It appears so. The 241/Purple is Sarapee Hospital, Chiang Mai. Maybe they had a fire or a lot of people died of respiratory failure (hence, the incense or someone blowing smoke into the sensor). Pray for the victims.

 

Sarapee Hospital Google Maps Street View (appears to be on a low-traffic street)

[mitebbots]

On 12/24/2019 at 3:24 AM, TerraplaneGuy said:

What browser are you using?  I use Chrome and have no trouble with the waqi.info site.  The berkeleyearth site is OK but some of their historical data seems suspect (Malaysia for instance).  I don't think they have a big team working on the site.  I emailed them with some questions a few months ago and they never answered.

 

I think you're right that the South generally has better air although there are a lot fewer monitoring stations other than government, which I'm skeptical of.  According to waqi and aqicn (basically the same site) Surat Thani's past 12 months air quality is way better than BKK (mostly green and yellow) but that's from one government station.  As for Phattalung, I see no data but I guess it would be OK.  However, it also seems there's no cities or even towns down there to speak of.  Hard to imagine living there for an extended period.  On Wikipedia the description of the economy refers to exactly one industry:  hit men!  

I forgot about the hit men in Phatthalung! Trang seems a bit more interesting. once i messed with Chrome seems to work well, just when i click on the language (US English) at the top still shows Vietnamese? best to allow the browser/site to see your location data I guess. I tried Brave browser and it didn't have the flags, just a location icon. liking Brave so far. 

[blackcab]

Please continue this discussion in the 2020 thread here.