North smog to worsen on first day of Songkran

By THE NATION

 

A volunteer battles flames in dry forestland in Mae Hong Son province yesterday.

 

With no rain in sight and low winds, officials advise people to stay indoors.

 

TOMORROW, the first official day of Songkran, will see a higher level of air pollution in the North, hence people are advised to wear masks and avoid going outdoors, a source at the Smoke Haze Integrated Research Unit (SHIRU) said yesterday. 

 

The Chiang Mai University-based research unit said this prediction was based on the GEOD-5 Model, which forecast low winds on that day, and the fact that there are still some hotspots in the region and across the border, so smog is expected to hit the region.

 

 

Methee Mahayotsanan, director of the Northern Meteorological Centre, said the westerly winds, blowing some 700 metres above ground, should be strong enough to blow away the haze, but low-lying breezes are not strong enough to scoop up the fine dust particles for it to blow away. Also, he said, low-lying winds were also being blocked by the region’s mountainous geography. 

 

Since there has been no rain in the North and hotspots across the border keep blowing smog into Thailand, there is a chance that air pollution in the region will worsen, he added. 

 

This prediction is not far-fetched, because as of Wednesday afternoon, Mae Hong Son had 145 hotspots – 28 each in the districts of Sop Moei and Mae Sariang, nine in Mae La Noi, 21 in Khun Yuam, 23 in Muang, five in Pang Mapha and 31 in Pai.

 

Meanwhile, Myanmar had 5,048 hot spots and Laos had 4,035, the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency’s fire-monitoring system reported. 

 

Pongpira Chuchen, chief of Mae Hong Son’s Muang district, said a special task force had surveyed the water sources in the area and come up with an effective plan to use helicopters to help douse fires in steep mountainous areas. So far, water-carrying helicopters have flown over Mae Sariang and Sop Moei districts 300 times. 

 

Meanwhile, the Department of National Parks reported via Facebook that forest-fire responder Wichien Panures, who suffered a stroke while fighting a blaze in Lampang on April 9, passed away at 5.18am yesterday. His funeral will be held in his hometown in Nakhon Ratchasima’s Pak Chong district. 

Forest fires and air pollution are still ravaging Phayao province, with Muang district’s tambon Ban Tom reporting PM2.5 levels at 99 micrograms per cubic metre of air. Suwit Suriyawong, chief of Phayao’s Muang district, said two major fires in the tambons of Mae Na Rua and Ban Mai had destroyed up to 100 rai (16 hectares) of conserved forestland. 

 

The quality of air remained poor in Chiang Mai – which ranked first with an air quality index (AQI) of 214 in the airvisual.com ranking of the world’s worst polluted cities as of 1pm yesterday – followed by Bangladeshi capital Dhaka (183) and Lahore in Pakistan (176). Chiang Mai and eight northern provinces recorded dangerous levels of PM2.5 – airborne particulates 2.5 microns or less in diameter.

 

The Pollution Control Department at 9am put the 24-hour average of PM2.5 between 63mcg and 152mcg in nine northern provinces. The Thai safe limit is 50.

 

Tambon Wiang Phang Kham in Chiang Rai’s Mae Sai district was worst off at 152mcg followed by tambon Huai Kon in Nan’s Chalerm Phrakiat district (125mcg), tambon Chang Kerng in Chiang Mai’s Mae Chaem district (101mcg) and tambon Chang Pheuk in Chiang Mai’s Muang district (93mcg).

 

As of yesterday morning, the Chiang Mai Air Quality Health Index Centre showed hourly AQI readings in several Chiang Mai districts, with Chiang Dao’s tambon Muang Khon recording the worst AQI at 341, followed by Samoeng’s tambon Yang Mern (312) and Wiang Haeng’s tambon Muang Haeng (310). The Thai safe limit for AQI is 100.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30367570

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-04-12

 

Here in Pattaya we battle fumes from disgusting old diesel tour buses, mini vans, old worn out song taos and somchais p/u truck....but we still have our 700 million dollar fake beach made of sand bags and dredged up muddy gravel...

Its called a "General" failure.... if you cant see the biggest mountain here you don't need a PM2.5 monitor telling you the air is shit???? 

21 minutes ago, sammieuk1 said:

Its called a "General" failure.... if you cant see the biggest mountain here you don't need a PM2.5 monitor telling you the air is shit???? 

Speaking of "General", I thought this was supposed to be all cleared up as of a couple days ago.

36 minutes ago, neeray said:

Speaking of "General", I thought this was supposed to be all cleared up as of a couple days ago.

Shhhh. Don't bring that up or many people will be fired for not getting it cleaned up in a week.

1 hour ago, mok199 said:

Here in Pattaya we battle fumes from disgusting old diesel tour buses, mini vans, old worn out song taos and somchais p/u truck....but we still have our 700 million dollar fake beach made of sand bags and dredged up muddy gravel...

exactly, just part of the pollution problem and easier to deal with.  slap fines on vehicle emissions and mandatory testing.  

2 minutes ago, malibukid said:

exactly, just part of the pollution problem and easier to deal with.  slap fines on vehicle emissions and mandatory testing.  

Don't hold your breath, they are too busy monitoring the lady boys. 

One general to another general: “what where you doing during the Thai election?” Hehehe

I think those machines ,pictured,are just pissing in the wind.

if there was any wind,at the moment the air is too thick to move.

regards Worgeordie

This is the scenery 100 miles Northwest of BKK as I flew in from Yangon.

Disgusting that we all accept this!!! Cmon already!

 

A few stupid people destroying the air quality for millions...

4 minutes ago, PumpkinEater said:

This is the scenery 100 miles Northwest of BKK as I flew in from Yangon.

Disgusting that we all accept this!!! Cmon already!

 

A few stupid people destroying the air quality for millions...

Leave.

I am! Stupid!

5 hours ago, webfact said:

people are advised to wear masks and avoid going outdoors

good.

Let the few tourists who came unknowing the air situation report home and spread the word

Chiangmai is worlds worst air polluted region

May be tourism meltdown would be the one way to get those morons in charge doing something effective to tackle the causes and prevent this from happening ever again

maybe a tad.  for those of us who don’t buy stuff such as We Are Winning... in South Vietnam!!! .... or “Mexican Rapists” instead of climate refugees, we know we may be one year away from another “Los Ninos” but perhaps one that makes this stuff child’s play.  I.e. we only have 60 years of very basic oceanographic data, and certain kinds of plankton skeletons as climate proxies to make any kind of predictions at all.... except that we ain't seen NOTHING yet.

 

if you don’t even take words such as “climate proxies” as normal conversational words.... you really need to do some reading.

22 minutes ago, sweatalot said:

good.

Let the few tourists who came unknowing the air situation report home and spread the word

Chiangmai is worlds worst air polluted region

May be tourism meltdown would be the one way to get those morons in charge doing something effective to tackle the causes and prevent this from happening ever again

Hear, hear!

A sharp downturn in tourist arrivals and the subsequent loss of revenue will be the only  thing that will provoke effective action to stop the burning.

Bring it on!

blame Big Joke, his fault the PM,s miracle didnt work (again)

1 hour ago, whaleboneman said:

Shhhh. Don't bring that up or many people will be fired for not getting it cleaned up in a week.

555555 And there was me thinking they would have had it sorted in 6 days with the media photo shoot on the 7th “;0)

i remember PM Prayut saying he would have it under control in 7 days

now 8 days so another big joke from him, nobody is listening anymore

54 minutes ago, sweatalot said:

Chiangmai is worlds worst air polluted region

Then one has to wonder why foreigners live there and whine all the time about the seasonal smoke which has been going on for decades if not centuries, Helped in part by the topography of the location.

 

I like the hi-tech firefighting kit!

49 minutes ago, sweatalot said:

good.

Let the few tourists who came unknowing the air situation report home and spread the word

Chiangmai is worlds worst air polluted region

May be tourism meltdown would be the one way to get those morons in charge doing something effective to tackle the causes and prevent this from happening ever again

Just wait for the next official tourist statistics announcement, saying that although a small decline in CM visitors, the family resort Pattaya experienced record growth.

 

This will all be forgotten in 2 weeks, when rain comes or not more to burn.

 

Next year same “surprise” problem.

43 minutes ago, VillageIdiot said:

Hear, hear!

A sharp downturn in tourist arrivals and the subsequent loss of revenue will be the only  thing that will provoke effective action to stop the burning.

Bring it on!

Don't you mean "A sharp downtourn in Chinese tourists arrivals......................"  ?

3 hours ago, mok199 said:

Here in Pattaya we battle fumes from disgusting old diesel tour buses, mini vans, old worn out song taos and somchais p/u truck....but we still have our 700 million dollar fake beach made of sand bags and dredged up muddy gravel...

I use to live a couple blocks from Pattaya Nua ( North Pattaya Street) It was amazing the black soot (dust) that would filter through my screen windows. -All from the buses and bumper to bumper traffic nearby.  I soon moved out after blowing my nose one day and seeing the “black” mucus on the tissue. Not the best air to inhale.

Before this I was reading about happy soakrun and the BiB handing out garlands at the airport.  They would be sharing the 20th floor with BJ if at C/Rai airport masks were handed out.

Smoke Haze Integrated Today.  Mountains gone again today

Shit air quality again start in chiang Rai today !!! 

Stay indoor and hug wife is better 

Anyone coming here for the water chucking will be sorely disappointed in how hard it is to find a target the air today is the worst I have ever seen been all over the city today and the number of stalls flogging water pistols outnumbers the die hard players 2/1 ????

7 hours ago, neeray said:

Speaking of "General", I thought this was supposed to be all cleared up as of a couple days ago.

More exact - within 7 days which are all gone and worse of all the smoke has worsened - In General, cant believe nothing or no-one nova days ... 

8 hours ago, mok199 said:

Here in Pattaya we battle fumes from disgusting old diesel tour buses, mini vans, old worn out song taos and somchais p/u truck....but we still have our 700 million dollar fake beach made of sand bags and dredged up muddy gravel...

Thought Mother Nature had reclaimed most of that anyhow?

 

I wonder what genius thought of that plan? It seems that Thai mentality consists of "papering over the cracks" in the cheapest way possible way (although the "pristine"beach didn't come cheap, by any means!) But to be honest, that part of Thailand needs more than a bit of new beach - it needs new water as well!

 

I have seen dirt tracks to houses have the potholes filled in with sand only for the potholes to reappear after a heavy downpour - and then when it dries out - THEY DO THE SAME THING AGAIN! Time after time!

 

I also see a patch of road outside some apartments down a badly lit side street has its tarmac replaced year after year because it is never repaired properly in the first place - obviously the cheapest quote - not the best - gets the job every time! 

 

The Council takes back all the wheelie bins for the garbage because some people don't pay their small fee every month for emptying them, so the garbage is dumped in plastic bags down a side road, or at the side of the main road where dogs and rats scavenge every night. And when the garbage IS collected, it is taken to a site where (last I heard) there are 250,000 tons of garbage increasing by the day because the incinerator has been broken for at least 8 years. The solution - cover it in nets!!!

 

And before someone says "If you don't like it - go home", for the most part, I DO like it, but that won't stop me from commenting on things that I DON"T like!!!

 

 

12 hours ago, webfact said:

TOMORROW, the first official day of Songkran, will see a higher level of air pollution in the North, hence people are advised to wear masks and avoid going outdoors, a source at the Smoke Haze Integrated Research Unit (SHIRU) said yesterday.

That stuffs up Songkran fun then !!

Peeing around for the last two weeks squirting water into the air has achieved exactly diddly squat !

The governor & officials should be shipped off somewhere where they can make themselves useful... possibly sweeping up the roads after the festivities!

11 hours ago, fullcave said:

Don't hold your breath, they are too busy monitoring the lady boys. 

 

the smog is still a issue in cnx has being for the last month.songkran will not change it but i know many tourist are not heading up nth because of the smog.once the wet season starts it will dissappear