sunholidaysun1 Posted March 15, 2013 Author Share Posted March 15, 2013 The Smoke this evening is bad and riding into town tonight the visibility before nightfall was very poor. The mountains are clouded with smog . I dont know where all this smog has come from as for the past weeks the weather here in Chiang rai has been very good. There are alot of particles in the air also , so I think the toxic levels must be high already and the burning of my eyes tonight was very unpleasant. Time for that trip to the beach again maybe but if I stay here the doors and windows will be kept closed as I think its only going to get worse over the coming days unless we get some rain and wind . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunholidaysun1 Posted March 18, 2013 Author Share Posted March 18, 2013 MAE HONG SON, March 18 - Illegal 'slash and burn' agriculture in Thailand's North has worsened the air quality in this northern province where dust particles have reached the record level of 200 microgrammes per cubic metre, a health official said today.Mae Hong Son health officer Paisal Tanyavinitkul said the smog and dust from forest fires has covered this northern province for over a week and the health office has provided 30,000 masks for distribution to people.People have been told to wear masks when they leave homes and refrain from outdoor exercise, said the doctor.An air quality survey by the Office of Natural Resources and Environment found 31 hot spots throughout Mae Hong Son, including the tourist town of Pai where an average 24-hour dust level was measured at 205 microgrammes.Children and elderly people at risk at this dust level, according to the office. The standard level is 120 microgrammes. OK. Its official , the Smog is here but so far its only just starting to drift in but enough to make your eyes sore when walking about and driving a motorbike in Chiang Rai City . You can see the colour of the sun has changed due to having the haze filter attached to it , . As for breathing that smog in , I am not sure how badly it affects us all in the long run , death I expect sooner than what we planned. A couple of years ago it was snowing black soot , it was so bad you couldnt see 50mtrs ahead of you. I hope we never ever experience that again . Maybe a gas mask and regular filter changes are needed instead of those paper masks people are wearing but I suppose they are better than just breathing it neat into your lungs. If you are planning on Visiting the North or moving here , just remember the burning season , its every year without fail , it just depends on which way the wind blows , or if we get a some rain to turn it in to acid rain to see how unlucky we are. Lets hope we get wind and rain SOON , before it gets too bad. The government safe level of 120 Mgrms has been passed already to reach 205Mgrms , I wonder what the microgram level of pollution was when we had black snow , it must have been off the scale , frightning . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunholidaysun1 Posted March 19, 2013 Author Share Posted March 19, 2013 Spotted the Rain Plane today , maybe there's a plan to drop a ton of chemicals into the clouds ,forcing them to drop whatever liquid they have floating around in them. Its quite the norm to see this from time to time , so maybe within a day or so , someone may get a shower in hope of clearing the air a little. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunholidaysun1 Posted March 21, 2013 Author Share Posted March 21, 2013 Some smoke last night , it was very evident. This morning noticed strands of soot that had landed on my veranda. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiang mai Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 Over 350 this morning in CM, it looks like pea soup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunholidaysun1 Posted March 21, 2013 Author Share Posted March 21, 2013 Over 350 this morning in CM, it looks like pea soup. Thats 3 x the safe limit In Chiang Rai city last night it was quite cold as was this morning , this is due to the sun being blocked out by the haze. The city today , it was easy to see the smog , its coming in slowly and it wont be too long before it gets really bad. The mountains were not visible at all as of 1 hour ago . No Idea what the level of pollution is but its not near the 350 mark of Chiang Mai yet . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morocco Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 MAE HONG SON, March 18 - Illegal 'slash and burn' agriculture in Thailand's North has worsened the air quality in this northern province where dust particles have reached the record level of 200 microgrammes per cubic metre, a health official said today. Mae Hong Son health officer Paisal Tanyavinitkul said the smog and dust from forest fires has covered this northern province for over a week and the health office has provided 30,000 masks for distribution to people. People have been told to wear masks when they leave homes and refrain from outdoor exercise, said the doctor. An air quality survey by the Office of Natural Resources and Environment found 31 hot spots throughout Mae Hong Son, including the tourist town of Pai where an average 24-hour dust level was measured at 205 microgrammes. Children and elderly people at risk at this dust level, according to the office. The standard level is 120 microgrammes. OK. Its official , the Smog is here but so far its only just starting to drift in but enough to make your eyes sore when walking about and driving a motorbike in Chiang Rai City . You can see the colour of the sun has changed due to having the haze filter attached to it , . As for breathing that smog in , I am not sure how badly it affects us all in the long run , death I expect sooner than what we planned. A couple of years ago it was snowing black soot , it was so bad you couldnt see 50mtrs ahead of you. I hope we never ever experience that again . Maybe a gas mask and regular filter changes are needed instead of those paper masks people are wearing but I suppose they are better than just breathing it neat into your lungs. If you are planning on Visiting the North or moving here , just remember the burning season , its every year without fail , it just depends on which way the wind blows , or if we get a some rain to turn it in to acid rain to see how unlucky we are. Lets hope we get wind and rain SOON , before it gets too bad. The government safe level of 120 Mgrms has been passed already to reach 205Mgrms , I wonder what the microgram level of pollution was when we had black snow , it must have been off the scale , frightning . I was riding from Mae Sariang to Mae Hon Son 4 days ago and I almost choked from all the smoke. It was really bad. I feel sorry for the people living there. When I got to Pai it was no where nearly as bad. In Chiang Rai now and a lot of haze. Only advantage being that is cool here today from blockage of the sun.lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harrry Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 (edited) I do not know where the figures 350 came from. The figures I have say 254 at 8 am. That is bad enough so we do not need fisherman's measures with this. Looks like we are stuck with it for a while too as there is no rain forecast for at least a week. Ahhhh I see that is a post regarding Chiang Mai. This is the Chiangrai forum so I assumed it was here and not that smokey city of iniquity south of us. My figures give a max of 305 for there. As the winds seem to be coming fron the south I guess they are sending some to us Edited March 21, 2013 by harrry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunholidaysun1 Posted March 21, 2013 Author Share Posted March 21, 2013 I dont think the levels of pollution will be far wrong whatever is said , we can basically guess from experience and thickness of haze but I only go by what others tell me , seeing as a few members are on the money with the findings. If that rain is due next week , I hope there is alot of it . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blueyeshh Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 Here you go.. What a joke http://www.mygroupon.co.th/deals/travel_en/Phu-Pai-Art-Resort/716840928?nlp=&CID=TH_CRM_1_0_0_82&a=715828137 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunholidaysun1 Posted March 23, 2013 Author Share Posted March 23, 2013 Here you go.. What a joke http://www.mygroupon.co.th/deals/travel_en/Phu-Pai-Art-Resort/716840928?nlp=&CID=TH_CRM_1_0_0_82&a=715828137 What are you trying to say ? Sorry I have missed your point ? Is the resort a joke or what ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harrry Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 (edited) Here you go.. What a joke http://www.mygroupon.co.th/deals/travel_en/Phu-Pai-Art-Resort/716840928?nlp=&CID=TH_CRM_1_0_0_82&a=715828137 What are you trying to say ? Sorry I have missed your point ? Is the resort a joke or what ? I think you will find the joke is the idea that the resort in Pai is a place to escape the poluted city and enjoy real oxygen. Pai is very heavily smoked out now. (I am not talking about the green stuff either) Edited March 23, 2013 by harrry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blueyeshh Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 Read it and you might understand. They claim to be a retreat of polluted cities considering the current pollution levels around Pai/MHS at this time it's quite amusing at least for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiang mai Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 Over 350 this morning in CM, it looks like pea soup. Thats 3 x the safe limit In Chiang Rai city last night it was quite cold as was this morning , this is due to the sun being blocked out by the haze. The city today , it was easy to see the smog , its coming in slowly and it wont be too long before it gets really bad. The mountains were not visible at all as of 1 hour ago . No Idea what the level of pollution is but its not near the 350 mark of Chiang Mai yet . Presumably you are refering to the level of 120? That being the case, 120 is not exactly a safe level, it's a level which some governments have set, beyond which some form of action will be taken, e.g. issue warnings, restrict working hours (potentially) and so on, it doesn't imply that a level of 120 is absolutely safe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunholidaysun1 Posted March 23, 2013 Author Share Posted March 23, 2013 Read it and you might understand. They claim to be a retreat of polluted cities considering the current pollution levels around Pai/MHS at this time it's quite amusing at least for me. Ah , I see , I thought it was an advert for the site so didnt read any of it , just skimmed through looking at the pictures , hahahahahaha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klikster Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 ".. didnt read any of it , just skimmed through looking at the pictures .." Is this why so many expats come to Thailand .. then complain? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunholidaysun1 Posted March 24, 2013 Author Share Posted March 24, 2013 It was very cold at midnight last night , so much so that driving back to my home from the local tesco's , I was shivering . Admittedly I only had a T-shirt and shorts on but at this time of year it should still be warm at that time of night. The smoke was thick in the air , very strong smelling and could be seen dimming the street lighting . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunholidaysun1 Posted March 25, 2013 Author Share Posted March 25, 2013 Low level Smog is very visible in town this morning and the stench of smoke is getting worse . The other noticable change to the weather is its COLD , cold last night and very cold this morning . I dont know what the temperature is but it feels alot less than 20c and for this time of year that is quite cold considering the normal daytime temperature for now can be 30-32c ,so a 10-12 degree drop is alot . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunholidaysun1 Posted March 25, 2013 Author Share Posted March 25, 2013 Over 350 this morning in CM, it looks like pea soup. Thats 3 x the safe limit In Chiang Rai city last night it was quite cold as was this morning , this is due to the sun being blocked out by the haze. The city today , it was easy to see the smog , its coming in slowly and it wont be too long before it gets really bad. The mountains were not visible at all as of 1 hour ago . No Idea what the level of pollution is but its not near the 350 mark of Chiang Mai yet . Presumably you are refering to the level of 120? That being the case, 120 is not exactly a safe level, it's a level which some governments have set, beyond which some form of action will be taken, e.g. issue warnings, restrict working hours (potentially) and so on, it doesn't imply that a level of 120 is absolutely safe. I dont think any level of pollution can be classed as safe, it depends I suppose on what the pollutants are. The Thai governments level of 120 is set at that level as far as I know to say its safe, not absolutly safe but far safer than anything above that level . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inapeartree Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 In Milan a few years ago there was uproar when the pm10 levels reached 110 as this was twice the 'safe' limit, in Germany the accepted limit is 50. Here in north Thailand the pm10 level is often over 200 for weeks at a time, wasn't it close to 400 last year?! And still nobody does anything, nothing at all, to try and stop it. The locals say 'mai pen rai' the officials pocket the bribes the landowners pay and many resident foreigners (most of which are Thai apologists) accept it too. Pathetic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiang mai Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 It is not true that the PM10 levels here are above 200 for weeks at a time, spikes do occurthat send the levels to in excess of 200 from time to time but the duration is usually very limited and measured in days not weeks. As for the 400 reading: it's possible there was a spike to that level also (but I doubt it) but it is a very rare phenomena. If you do a serach on this forum you'll find that poster Priceless has published a whole host of graphs using data from the PCD, you would do well to review them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harrry Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 It is not true that the PM10 levels here are above 200 for weeks at a time, spikes do occurthat send the levels to in excess of 200 from time to time but the duration is usually very limited and measured in days not weeks. As for the 400 reading: it's possible there was a spike to that level also (but I doubt it) but it is a very rare phenomena. If you do a serach on this forum you'll find that poster Priceless has published a whole host of graphs using data from the PCD, you would do well to review them. Priceless has done great work with his climate statistics but his figures do relate to the Chiangmai Statistics. This is the Chiangrai forum and our climate is slightly different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunholidaysun1 Posted March 25, 2013 Author Share Posted March 25, 2013 It is not true that the PM10 levels here are above 200 for weeks at a time, spikes do occurthat send the levels to in excess of 200 from time to time but the duration is usually very limited and measured in days not weeks. As for the 400 reading: it's possible there was a spike to that level also (but I doubt it) but it is a very rare phenomena. If you do a serach on this forum you'll find that poster Priceless has published a whole host of graphs using data from the PCD, you would do well to review them. When the pollution was so bad it snowed black soot , that must have been way over the 400 pm level. It was like driving in a blizzard, visibility was down to about 50mtrs , my clothes were covered in soot , .same as a snow storm , can anyone else remember that soot falling a year or 2 ago ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villagefarang Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 (edited) We get a version of that from time to time but it seems to be pretty localized, coming from a fire and column of smoke, within line of sight. Some of the ash strands are pretty good sized and end up covering walkways and the surface of the pond. Not a pretty sight. Edited March 25, 2013 by villagefarang Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunholidaysun1 Posted March 25, 2013 Author Share Posted March 25, 2013 When that soot blizzard affected Chiang Rai , it was a build up of pollution for several weeks , then it covered the city of Chiang Rai . I was driving from Bandu back up to the White Temple and the whole route was exactly the same , everything was being covered in soot . It happened around late afternoon but turned the daytime to night . Someone must have been in it other than me and the Thais . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harrry Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 Not sure if tis is a result of weather planes flying in clockwise and anticlockwise circles around the pentagram,,,,oops I mean around the ha yak but the smoke is so much better this afternoon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
watcharacters Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 First of all trouble can find you anywhere. It can be very easy to find you when your drunk and have a big mouth. Now just a little bit bigger. Ooooh now that is really nasty. I'm all upset now. Was you puffing your chest out while you was typing that? Is the air quality not so good in Northern Thailand? I only notice when I take a flight and look down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ripstanley Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 I flew back in this afternoon after 2.5 weeks away. It was a bit of a shock to see the amount of smoke compared to when we left. But it is Chiang Rai and we have chosen to live here. I felt sorry for the tourists arriving for a holiday. They will not see the area at its best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunholidaysun1 Posted March 25, 2013 Author Share Posted March 25, 2013 Just like any holiday , it pays to do some homework on the place you are visiting, then there should be no suprises or dissapointments . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ripstanley Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 Just like any holiday , it pays to do some homework on the place you are visiting, then there should be no suprises or dissapointments . Most of the tourist will use airconditioned rooms without any worry. They will not open there windows at night. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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