Smoke, Smog, Dust 2018 Chiang Mai

[vivid]

2 minutes ago, piewarmer said:

555 is no laughing matter, over 500 should be called something "outrageous", maybe that

That AQI 555 station was AQI 585 an hours earlier @ 0700h.  ????????

[markcm19]

just another couple months of cancerous air before it returns to its normal dirty-air state.

[jeffandgop]

At my house Maejo area 

[vivid]

1st on the chart = AQI 747

2nd on the chart = AQI 673

 

[jimgilly]

What amazes me even more than the horrific levels of ongoing pollution CM is experiencing, is how people are pre-occupied about how accurate the readings our with different devices. 

 

Really all you need to know is the levels of air pollution are beyond unhealthy - it is outright dangerous to be where you are and there is no telling when the air levels will get back to normal, if there is such a thing in CM.

 

Too many of you are like the proverbial frog sitting in a pot of soon to be boiling water.  Anyone who has stayed in CM during these off the chart days of air pollution will only have themselves to blame when they develop serious health problems that will be a direct result of breathing in this toxic air.  And if you think it won't happen just wait and see. It's not a matter if if, it's just when.

[vivid]

2 hours ago, vivid said:

As per AQICN @ 0700h for Chiang Mai

HPC-1 Chiang Mai = AQI 585

Yupparaj = AQI 549

Ban Thammapakorn = 491  (i think it hit 516 2hrs earlier)

 

Mae Taeng hospital = AQI 528

San Pa Tong hospital = AQI 508

 

3 other stations that are not in CM also surpassed AQI 500.

 

2 new stations in Chiang Mai surpassed AQI 500 too. 

Sarapee Hospital = AQI 529 @ 0900h

True Regional Office = AQI 541 @ 0900h

[cerox]

Next goal: +600 all stations. Come on, you can do it.

[sanemax]

The air quality is extememly bad and prolonged this year and the bad air quality has also coincided with the elections . The farmers generally oppose the government .

  Could this be the farmers deliberately polluting the air in the hope that the voters will vote for a change of Government ?

[vivid]

14 minutes ago, cerox said:

Next goal: +600 all stations. Come on, you can do it.

 

Airpocalyptic conditions just to the north and NW of Chiang Mai province.

 

[vivid]

 

AQI 588 for Yupparaj @ 1000h 

AQI 682 for HPC-1 @ 1000h

 

[Samuel Smith]

8 minutes ago, vivid said:

 

Airpocalyptic conditions just to the north and NW of Chiang Mai province.

 

 

[vivid]

Airpocalyptic conditions at 1 part of Chiang Mai city.  ????

[vivid]

As per AQICN @ 0700h for Chiang Mai

HPC-1 Chiang Mai = AQI 585  (max 682 @ 1000h)

Yupparaj = AQI 549

Ban Thammapakorn = 551 @ 1000h

Mae Taeng hospital = AQI 528

San Pa Tong hospital = AQI 508

Sarapee Hospital = AQI 529 @ 0900h

True Regional Office = AQI 541 @ 0900h

Rhies CMU = AQI 535 @ 1000h

[cmsally]

I was told , although it something I can't verify , that the Public Health / Health Dept wanted to announce this as a national disaster but was overridden in the decision. I don't know if this is true but have heard from a few people.

Apparently people are now trying to collect signatures to have the Chiang Mai Governor removed.

 

Last night in hills above Hang Dong and Samoeng there was clearly burning going on. 

[canopy]

4 hours ago, thaivisa63 said:

What are the alternatives for the farmers if they have any ? How can they keep doing those fires knowing they are sending children to the hospital ?

First of all note that farm burning is just one ingredient of the smoke; other things get burned like forests and one use plastics by the millions. Now back to the farmers. Some people seem to have a need to justify the farmers burning their fields as somehow a necessity. But I am afraid there is no good justification. Burning is harmful to the soil and promotes top soil erosion. In the old days before chemical farming the farmers understood the importance of tilling the stalks for soil fertility. In our generation the stalks are now a waste product sent up in smoke to get rid of it. Interesting this year they tried something new with sugar cane in some places where they refused to buy cane that was burnt. The farmers then happily harvested and sold their cane green. Then what happened? The farmers went right back to the fields and burned them anyway which was astonishing since the excuse they had for burning up to that point was to make cane easier to harvest. Quite simply the people find enjoyment and convenience in burning. It's quick, easy, and to them burnt land looks better than weeds and things. That's why they do it. It doesn't matter that they make everyone sick. It's their land and they do as they please and if you were to complain about pollution they would say you are the problem for complaining. That's the psychology at work you need to understand.

 

 

[LolaS]

1 hour ago, canopy said:

First of all note that farm burning is just one ingredient of the smoke; other things get burned like forests and one use plastics by the millions. Now back to the farmers. Some people seem to have a need to justify the farmers burning their fields as somehow a necessity. But I am afraid there is no good justification. Burning is harmful to the soil and promotes top soil erosion. In the old days before chemical farming the farmers understood the importance of tilling the stalks for soil fertility. In our generation the stalks are now a waste product sent up in smoke to get rid of it. Interesting this year they tried something new with sugar cane in some places where they refused to buy cane that was burnt. The farmers then happily harvested and sold their cane green. Then what happened? The farmers went right back to the fields and burned them anyway which was astonishing since the excuse they had for burning up to that point was to make cane easier to harvest. Quite simply the people find enjoyment and convenience in burning. It's quick, easy, and to them burnt land looks better than weeds and things. That's why they do it. It doesn't matter that they make everyone sick. It's their land and they do as they please and if you were to complain about pollution they would say you are the problem for complaining. That's the psychology at work you need to understand.

 

 

No, the real reason is the drug production and smuggling in the border area of Burma, they cover their drug plantations and smuggling routes by producing smoke. The farmer you mention are few and exception. Real problems are drugs.

[cmsally]

I don't think drugs are the cause. Nowadays it would be drug factories rather than plantations. It is more amphetamines than opium poppy. Drug factories and smuggling routes are better covered by trees and foliage than smoke. If it were poppies we are also past the harvesting time so not much to see there.

[Sparkles]

2 hours ago, cmsally said:

I was told , although it something I can't verify , that the Public Health / Health Dept wanted to announce this as a national disaster but was overridden in the decision. I don't know if this is true but have heard from a few people.

Apparently people are now trying to collect signatures to have the Chiang Mai Governor removed.

 

Last night in hills above Hang Dong and Samoeng there was clearly burning going on. 

We drove the Samoeng Loop road late last December and counted 5 fires, just leaves and roadside grass.To start the ban as late as March 1 is a total farce and of course its not enforced.There are many army personel stationed in CM who could be out and about putting out forest fires without encroaching on private land.They would also have the power, I would imagine, to take action against offenders

 

Access is also available to helicoptors and planes that could be dropping water on fires.

 

The most staggering fact to me is that the Thai population are so passive about the sitution.The usual answer we get  is "what can we do ?

 

It is a national disaster and the spike in people ,especially young children being hospatilised with breathing problems illustrates that.

Seems nothing will be done, just wait for rain ,and we can go through the same scenario next year

[canthai55]

50 minutes ago, LolaS said:

Real problems are drugs.

The REAL problem is the War on Drugs

[canthai55]

14 minutes ago, cmsally said:

I don't think drugs are the cause. Nowadays it would be drug factories rather than plantations. 

True Dat.

Oxycodone replaced Heroin

Yabba - chrystal meth - called Speed when I was coming up.

Never seen an oxycontin tree - or a yabba bush

555

[sanemax]

14 minutes ago, cmsally said:

I don't think drugs are the cause. Nowadays it would be drug factories rather than plantations. It is more amphetamines than opium poppy. Drug factories and smuggling routes are better covered by trees and foliage than smoke. If it were poppies we are also past the harvesting time so not much to see there.

As far as I'm aware , all the drug factories are over the border in Myanmar in areas controlled by warlords .

[orang37]

3 hours ago, canopy said:

Quite simply the people find enjoyment and convenience in burning

 

1 hour ago, LolaS said:

No, the real reason is the drug production and smuggling in the border area of Burma, they cover their drug plantations and smuggling routes by producing smoke. 

 

more than one kind of smoke going up into the forum's air, here: a mixture of vintage reductionism and fresh troll sweat ?

 

~o:37;

[bkk6060]

Nothing will ever be done.

Especially, if it is a Falang complaint.

Minimal Thais complain about this.

They hope you hate it so much you will leave.

See reality.....

[vivid]

Went out after 1000h and came back to find that the situation has improved heckloads due to the winds clearing most of the smoke!  Some areas getting beaufort 3-4.

 

Chiang Rai is still getting smoked though.

[LolaS]

5 hours ago, cmsally said:

I don't think drugs are the cause. Nowadays it would be drug factories rather than plantations. It is more amphetamines than opium poppy. Drug factories and smuggling routes are better covered by trees and foliage than smoke. If it were poppies we are also past the harvesting time so not much to see there.

I thought the same. but situation would suprise you. 

[vivid]

[vivid]

A good no. of stations turning brown again.

 

[vivid]

Peak for the day in Thailand.

 

[beautifulthailand99]

21 hours ago, cmsally said:

I was told , although it something I can't verify , that the Public Health / Health Dept wanted to announce this as a national disaster but was overridden in the decision. I don't know if this is true but have heard from a few people.

Apparently people are now trying to collect signatures to have the Chiang Mai Governor removed.

 

Last night in hills above Hang Dong and Samoeng there was clearly burning going on. 

If continually having the world's worst air quality is not a national disaster I don't know what is. Sadly it's creeping one rather than an immediate catastrophe. 

[vivid]

Another new peak has been registered.

 

Verification on aqmthai (PCD)