I'm thinking of re-locating from smoggy BKK to Phuket (on the coast somewhere) to get better air.  But there's not much historical air quality info about the island (aqicn.org only has records back to this past June).  Has anybody been monitoring it for the last couple years?  I've seen news reports that sometimes there is smoke from Sumatra that creates very bad air in Phuket.  What's the year-round air situation there?

Generally Phuket has the cleanest, or close to cleanest, air in Thailand. This is due to it's geographical position as an Island on the Andaman Sea away from the gulf. (I checked before writing this and the level was at 21 (good) and seemed to be the lowest in the country.)

However, it is Thailand, and people do burn rubbish indiscriminately at times which can cause temporary localized problems. Also, as stated, smoke from the Indonesian fires can sometimes drift this far north and cause problems for a few days. This has happened a few times in my 10 years living here.

I wouldn't recommend living in  Patong because, in my opinion, the heavy traffic, deep bay and surrounding hills can lock smog in that town. 

I was planning to move back to BKK and I moved to Phuket instead. Phuket AQI is pretty good and it offers everything you need, you won't miss BKK at all. AQI was an important factor for me, that's why I avoided Bangkok.

16 hours ago, Old Croc said:

...

However, it is Thailand, and people do burn rubbish indiscriminately at times which can cause temporary localized problems. Also, as stated, smoke from the Indonesian fires can sometimes drift this far north and cause problems for a few days. This has happened a few times in my 10 years living here.

 

Rubbish burning seems to be the AQ wild card throughout Thailand. I’ve heard the same about Koh Samui.  If you have bad luck with neighbors they can smoke you out regularly.  That’s the small scale stuff but it can be bad.  Then there’s large scale waste incinerators which are also bad.   How about around Karon and Kata, any reports that burning garbage is a problem?

2 hours ago, TerraplaneGuy said:

<snip>

 How about around Karon and Kata, any reports that burning garbage is a problem?

 

No

Just researched a bit about the Indonesian fires causing smoke in Phuket, seems it's an annual problem around September.  Although it still doesn't look as bad as the bad weeks in BKK.  Only went into the "red" (AQI over 150) one day this September in Phuket town.   It might have been worse at beaches according to the official quoted in The Star. 

 

 https://www.thestar.com.my/news/regional/2019/09/23/thai-popular-resort-island-phuket-shrouded-in-haze-caused-by-indonesian-fires