Smoke, Smog, Dust 2012 Chiang Mai

[villagefarang]

New business oportunity in Thailand. Send us your salmon and we will smoke it.

Think big, we could smoke whales.

[chiang mai]

New business oportunity in Thailand. Send us your salmon and we will smoke it.

Think big, we could smoke whales.

Or Scotland perhaps!

[harrry]

New business oportunity in Thailand. Send us your salmon and we will smoke it.

Think big, we could smoke whales.

Or Scotland perhaps!

THink again....smoke is a preservative.....does anyone other than the blether want Scotland to last forever.

[jaideecm]

No debate, Tywalis! It's bad out there (and not just for PM<10. The question before us is what to do about it. Granted the group here at TV TV Chiang Mai have limited capacity, but what can we as individuals do --- and I don'd mean heading for the beach. Regrettably, not so many have the freedom or the wherewithal to do that! Nor staying here, the knowledge and/or wherewithal to have air conditioning or HEPA filters.

I just came back from 3 days at Doi Inthanon staying at bungalows around 1600 meters. The air is much cleaner there and very nice temperatures at night. Came back to Chiang Mai today and it is sooo bad I will go back tomorrow for a few more days until the mango rains come which could be any day now.

Near the summit of Doi Inthanon you can look down into the valleys and see the layer of dark brown haze. Above beautiful blue sky and some mountain tops. Go to Doi Inthanon national park and chill, hike mountain trails, swim under waterfalls and in clear streams, enjoy the hospitality of the Karen people.

Any idea if we could take our dogs up there?

The bungalows and villages do have dogs so be prepared but I am sure they are welcome.

[jaideecm]

I just heard from my friend in Maekachan which is half way between Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai and he said it has been raining very hard for the past hour. great news!!!

[MESmith]

I just heard from my friend in Maekachan which is half way between Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai and he said it has been raining very hard for the past hour. great news!!!

radar is showing rain around Lampang

[Mapguy]

New business oportunity in Thailand. Send us your salmon and we will smoke it.

Think big, we could smoke whales.

Or Scotland perhaps!

Been done!

[T_Dog]

Video comparing the pollution with the normal season..... Burning in Thailand is a way of life and here is what the result looks like from the air.

[junglechef]

Hmmm and now the site aqmthai.com is password protected ... or is it only me ? P.

Some security / malware software reports that the site has malware on it. Could it be that this is the page you get, not actually the aqmthai site? Anyway I use either Mac OSX or Windows 7 so I'm completely immune to malware as long as I don't actively do something stupid. So I just continue to the site.

This is OK now ... Firefox and Linux ;-) P.

Having same problem, how does one look at it w/Firefox or Linux?

[el jefe]

Doi Suthep is still nearly invisible from 2 kms away,

Does anyone else think there is a problem with the measuring equipment as the current reading at Yuparaj is a barely acceptable 117 and the reading at City Hall is a clean 86?

The statistics are meaningless if these numbers are wrong.

[chiang mai]

I drive across Narwat bridge every day and always glance at the real time pollution numbers on the screen opposite the Governors mansion, have to say that visibility conditions generally do not match what I see on the screen and presume the screen is there merely to reassure tourists.

[MESmith]

TMD website shows 25mm of rain in Lampang, yesterday

[TheScribe]

I drive across Narwat bridge every day and always glance at the real time pollution numbers on the screen opposite the Governors mansion, have to say that visibility conditions generally do not match what I see on the screen and presume the screen is there merely to reassure tourists.

I don't know if the published numbers are true or not, but certainly out here in Doi Saket the air is cleaner than its been for weeks. Haven't had any rain yet, hoping we get some.

[MESmith]

Definitely clearer. Already seen the first fire lit to celebrate this fact

[trainman34014]

Definitely clearer. Already seen the first fire lit to celebrate this fact

Just back from the daily Bike ride and five smouldering fires seen from overnight burning in the villages. Air generally a lot cleaner though with a reasonable breeze blowing below the mountains. Just need some of that rain and it will be a perfect day.

[nikster]

Values close to zero just now.. either the sensors are going down again, or it's raining up there? Certainly a lot of rain forecast, my iPhone shows 60% chance of precipitation.

Meanwhile people are doing things:

http://www.breathecampaign.net/

http://www.breathecampaign.net/th/

[junglechef]

A local Pulmonologist told me the readings are not to be relied on

[el jefe]

I was out on the 1269/Samoeng Rd both yesterday and this morning. The villagers must have believed the forecast of rain. Yesterday and last night was a big day for burning. There were plenty of still smoldering leaf and garbage piles, agricultural fires, and a lots of roadside clearings.

Why do the Burmese have to travel hundreds of kilometers to set fires in CM??

The air did seem a little less polluted in some areas and I didn't get north of City Hall. Was the air really that clean up there? The current reading meets the EU standard at 44.

[doppa]

so where's this bleeding rain the, up here nr maejo, nowt....is just a general trait with all weather forecasters, their predictions not too accurate.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

I was out on the 1269/Samoeng Rd both yesterday and this morning. The villagers must have believed the forecast of rain. Yesterday and last night was a big day for burning. There were plenty of still smoldering leaf and garbage piles, agricultural fires, and a lots of roadside clearings.

Why do the Burmese have to travel hundreds of kilometers to set fires in CM??

The air did seem a little less polluted in some areas and I didn't get north of City Hall. Was the air really that clean up there? The current reading meets the EU standard at 44.

A single day or a single reading cannot meet, or fail, the EU standard. You misunderstand the standard, even though people have explained it in this topic several times.

Either way I'm happy with the clearer air. Went back to opening the windows.

[tfc]

It seems like a post apocalyptic haze here in CM after enjoying the fresh air in Bangkok for the last week.

[MESmith]

It seems like a post apocalyptic haze here in CM after enjoying the fresh air in Bangkok for the last week.

Today is the best it's been for nearly 4 weeks

[MESmith]

so where's this bleeding rain the, up here nr maejo, nowt....is just a general trait with all weather forecasters, their predictions not too accurate.

Take a look at the rain radar - there's a big storm approaching from the southwest.

[heybruce]

It seems like a post apocalyptic haze here in CM after enjoying the fresh air in Bangkok for the last week.

So Chiang Mai air makes Bangkok air seem fresh by comparison? That's perhaps the most damning thing that can be said about air quality.

[T_Dog]

so where's this bleeding rain the, up here nr maejo, nowt....is just a general trait with all weather forecasters, their predictions not too accurate.

Take a look at the rain radar - there's a big storm approaching from the southwest.

I saw that quite early today and that formation is not moving very fast if at all. (Edit... Looks like it is moving this way now.....must have been loading the page from cache.) Still hoping the winds bring us some unstable weather so the rain can fall up here. Some good news... For the first time in six weeks I see no smoke from fires for miles around. Edited March 11, 2012 by T_Dog

[MESmith]

so where's this bleeding rain the, up here nr maejo, nowt....is just a general trait with all weather forecasters, their predictions not too accurate.

Take a look at the rain radar - there's a big storm approaching from the southwest.

I saw that quite early today and that formation is not moving very fast if at all. Still hoping the winds bring us some unstable weather so the rain can fall up here. Some good news... For the first time in six weeks I see no smoke from fires for miles around.

True, but at least it's dumping loads of rain on the fires over that way. Which must be beneficial? I hope.....

All we need now is another storm to move in from the north..... Classic pincer movement

[el jefe]

I was out on the 1269/Samoeng Rd both yesterday and this morning. The villagers must have believed the forecast of rain. Yesterday and last night was a big day for burning. There were plenty of still smoldering leaf and garbage piles, agricultural fires, and a lots of roadside clearings.

Why do the Burmese have to travel hundreds of kilometers to set fires in CM??

The air did seem a little less polluted in some areas and I didn't get north of City Hall. Was the air really that clean up there? The current reading meets the EU standard at 44.

A single day or a single reading cannot meet, or fail, the EU standard. You misunderstand the standard, even though people have explained it in this topic several times.

Either way I'm happy with the clearer air. Went back to opening the windows.

Winnie, for the sake of brevity in a thread with 567 posts, I used the number 50 without the full explanation as to how many times per year it can be exceeded. We all agree that CM's air pollution has exceeded the standard set by the Thai govt.

What we will now disagree on forever is the validity of the readings and statistics compiled from them. You may have opened the windows, but is the air wherever you are as good as the govt reports? the current reading for PM10 at City Hall is 31. That's a number not often seen outside the rainy season. can someone nearby confirm that the air quality near City Hall is really as good as it ever gets!!

[chiang mai]

I have to agree with EJ, it's getting very hard to understand what should be believed in this matter.

I never thought that the numbers comming out of two solitary monitoring stations for all of CM in 2007 represented the true pollution picture. Today I see the green smiley face on the pollution display screen opposite the Governers Mansion telling me that everything is OK, along with some silly low number - I definitely don't believe that.

The graphs we've seen displayed here so many times over the years: with all due respect to Priceless for his effort and his intellect, I don't think they tell the complete unabridged story, the graphs may be an accurate representation of the numbers input to them but the validty and completness of those numbers remains suspect, in my mind. I think I'm to the point like many others here where the only thing I fully trust is the line of sight from my eigth floor window, the tenderness of my throat and the degree to which my eyes are watering, anecdotal indeed but reliable and accurate, certainly.

[Mapguy]

I was out on the 1269/Samoeng Rd both yesterday and this morning. The villagers must have believed the forecast of rain. Yesterday and last night was a big day for burning. There were plenty of still smoldering leaf and garbage piles, agricultural fires, and a lots of roadside clearings.

Why do the Burmese have to travel hundreds of kilometers to set fires in CM??

The air did seem a little less polluted in some areas and I didn't get north of City Hall. Was the air really that clean up there? The current reading meets the EU standard at 44.

A single day or a single reading cannot meet, or fail, the EU standard. You misunderstand the standard, even though people have explained it in this topic several times.

Either way I'm happy with the clearer air. Went back to opening the windows.

I really don't understand the cheap shot at the Burmese. Those practicing traditional agriculture come from all sorts of ethnic roots. But maybe EJ is of La'Na stock and not forgiving yet of the last invasion of Chiang Mai. It was more than a little while ago! There aren't many Burmese among the recent refugee "invasion," actually, and they haven't arrived on armoured elephants! It seems they are mostly taken advantage of.

[MESmith]

I was out on the 1269/Samoeng Rd both yesterday and this morning. The villagers must have believed the forecast of rain. Yesterday and last night was a big day for burning. There were plenty of still smoldering leaf and garbage piles, agricultural fires, and a lots of roadside clearings.

Why do the Burmese have to travel hundreds of kilometers to set fires in CM??

The air did seem a little less polluted in some areas and I didn't get north of City Hall. Was the air really that clean up there? The current reading meets the EU standard at 44.

A single day or a single reading cannot meet, or fail, the EU standard. You misunderstand the standard, even though people have explained it in this topic several times.

Either way I'm happy with the clearer air. Went back to opening the windows.

I really don't understand the cheap shot at the Burmese. Those practicing traditional agriculture come from all sorts of ethnic roots. But maybe EJ is of La'Na stock and not forgiving yet of the last invasion of Chiang Mai. It was more than a little while ago! There aren't many Burmese among the recent refugee "invasion," actually, and they haven't arrived on armoured elephants! It seems they are mostly taken advantage of.

I interpreted it as a dig at the Thais for blaming all the smog on the Burmese. ie the burning in Burma is the cause, 'cos there's "no burning in Thailand" ;-)

But I could be wrong.....