Smoke, Smog, Dust 2012 Chiang Mai

[Tywais]

Since there are three running topics on this important subject I felt it would be better to have one topic centralizing the on going information and data. Members can report the conditions in their area and updates of the pollution numbers (PCD) and questions in this topic. Also published news updates regarding local conditions.

Regional Daily Air Quality Data

aqmthai.com Air Quality Index

Previous topics on the subject:

Dusty Season Opening

Exactly How is the air quality in Chiang Mai?

Smog Threats in Chiang Mai Province

[Tywais]

Satellite imagery Fire Map - This will update automatically on Thaivisa as the data changes at the remote site.

[Genericnic]

Makes me glad I am off to Bali next week for three weeks. I don't see anything there. I hope the rainy season starts before I get back.

David

[nikster]

great map thanks! wish it was a bit more high resolution but I guess the sheer number of red spots tell us what we also know when we look out the window - air quality is currently taking a steep dive.

I live on canal road and I can't see Doi Suthep. It's that bad.

I am out of here in a month, so will have to suffer through this for now. I'll be surprised if we don't have to take the kids to the hospital for some lung-related infection within the next month.

Edited February 16, 2012 by nikster

[Thailand]

That map should be posted everywhere on the internet,it is a disgrace that this is going on here in Thailand so long with very little action from from the authorities.Forgt the terrorist warnings,this smog is much more dangerous and to many more people,

Roll on the rain!

[chiang mai]

That map should be posted everywhere on the internet,it is a disgrace that this is going on here in Thailand so long with very little action from from the authorities.Forgt the terrorist warnings,this smog is much more dangerous and to many more people,

Roll on the rain!

What action would you suggest?

[CMX]

It appears that the Vietnamese are more advanced than Thailand and neighbors, at least from the point of view of no fires. (But also that the Chinese government not so.)

Perhaps northern Vietnam will become the next favourite for expats?

[chiang mai]

It appears that the Vietnamese are more advanced than Thailand and neighbors, at least from the point of view of no fires. (But also that the Chinese government not so.)

Perhaps northern Vietnam will become the next favourite for expats?

More advanced or stricter control I wonder. Also interesting to note from the map that Northern Australia uses the same ground clearing techniques, I find that particularly odd.

Edited February 17, 2012 by chiang mai

[Greenside]

Anecdotal, but today (Feb 17th) seems like the worst yet. No sign of the sun until 8.30 and as I write the scene outside has a sickly dull orange glow that reminds me of countless post apocalypse movies. Your reporter in Nong Hoi.

[Tywais]

I'm going to pin this for the duration of the smog season at which point we can continue with the Rain topic.

[MESmith]

I'm going to pin this for the duration of the smog season at which point we can continue with the Rain topic.

If you could merge the two, smog & rain, problem solved. But probably best to park your car undercover, acid rain......

[MESmith]

Anecdotal, but today (Feb 17th) seems like the worst yet. No sign of the sun until 8.30 and as I write the scene outside has a sickly dull orange glow that reminds me of countless post apocalypse movies. Your reporter in Nong Hoi.

There was a fair amount of cloud on the eastern horizon this morning. We didn't see the sun until about 7.45, a dull red ball visible through the smog haze. Very eerie light

[nikster]

Anecdotal, but today (Feb 17th) seems like the worst yet. No sign of the sun until 8.30 and as I write the scene outside has a sickly dull orange glow that reminds me of countless post apocalypse movies. Your reporter in Nong Hoi.

Yup. We were in Pai last weekend and the air quality was deteriorating tremendously. Back to Chiang Mai, much better, but the last 2 days I think the really bad stuff has made its way down here.

LA sunsets here we come. Coughing everywhere, here we come. Various lung related diseases - it's open season. I have a runny nose, and I know why.

[nikster]

That map should be posted everywhere on the internet,it is a disgrace that this is going on here in Thailand so long with very little action from from the authorities.Forgt the terrorist warnings,this smog is much more dangerous and to many more people,

Roll on the rain!

What action would you suggest?

Stop the burning.

Not that easy to change habits that have developed over hundreds of years. But also not impossible. It's people who are doing this - people are setting the forests and fields on fire. Those people can be stopped.

Edited February 17, 2012 by nikster

[chiang mai]

That map should be posted everywhere on the internet,it is a disgrace that this is going on here in Thailand so long with very little action from from the authorities.Forgt the terrorist warnings,this smog is much more dangerous and to many more people,

Roll on the rain!

What action would you suggest?

Stop the burning.

Ok bright star, and just how do you propose to do that, how do you change a very cost effective habit of centuries for rural farmers? Also, what makes you think the pollution is caused by burning within Thailand, maybe the majority of it is carried in on air currents from China and the like!

[SoloFlyer]

. Also interesting to note from the map that Northern Australia uses the same ground clearing techniques, I find that particularly odd.

That would be the Aussie natives. No immediate neighbours out that way, unlike here.

[nikster]

Seems like the updates on regional air quality / PM10 Chiang Mai stop on January 31st. Convenient.

[nikster]

That map should be posted everywhere on the internet,it is a disgrace that this is going on here in Thailand so long with very little action from from the authorities.Forgt the terrorist warnings,this smog is much more dangerous and to many more people, Roll on the rain!

What action would you suggest?

Stop the burning.

Ok bright star, and just how do you propose to do that, how do you change a very cost effective habit of centuries for rural farmers? Also, what makes you think the pollution is caused by burning within Thailand, maybe the majority of it is carried in on air currents from China and the like!

How do you change a centuries old habit? Like you change anything, by making the first step. I didn't say it's easy, or that I have a plan. I am just saying that's what needs to happen. If you think that it would be impossible be my guest - I don't think it is. But that's a different discussion.

"Also, what makes you think the pollution is caused by burning within Thailand, maybe the majority of it is carried in on air currents from China and the like" ROFL. Map reading does not seem your strong suit. Or maybe you subscribe to the Korean BBQ theory proposed by CM authorities some years ago?

It's obvious both on a local, and on a global level: Locally, if you live in Pai for a few years you'll notice the most astounding correlation: If the mountains are on fire at night, the air gets really bad. If you're sitting in the middle of a bonfire you don't need to be asking where the smoke is coming from.

Globally, just look at the above satellite map. Thailand, Laos, Burma, Cambodia are all on fire. Fire is known to cause smoke, and smoke causes air pollution. Huge, major burning causes major pollution. Singapore/Malaysia has the same problem with "Haze" as it's euphemistically called from forest fires in Indonesia. Seasonal, same as here.

I think it's amazing people could even be thinking about other causes, yet it happens every year. "Maybe it's the cars" - cars are not seasonal. The big fires are. "Maybe its the Korean BBQs?" Well they're not seasonal either, apart from the fact that the suggestion seems straight out of Monty Python. "The neighbor burning their trash" - that's annoying, and not helping, but please look at the sat map - there are LARGE SCALE fires all over the region. The satellite only shows fires of 10 hectares or more! One drive through the north of Thailand and you will see that apart from the huge fires captured by the satellite, there are smaller fires everywhere.

In fact at the end of the summer, you will be hard pressed to find a section of the forest that has not been burnt. The locals are doing it for a variety of reasons and as you said have been doing so for generations. That doesn't mean it's good, or that they need to keep on doing it as only now do we have the means to trace cause and effect, we have the satellite images and the hospital statistics from that time of the year. All the data is there, the cost associated with the burning I am sure stands in no relation to the gains - just like in other parts of the world where burning used to be the way to do things.

/rant

[Thailand]

That map should be posted everywhere on the internet,it is a disgrace that this is going on here in Thailand so long with very little action from from the authorities.Forgt the terrorist warnings,this smog is much more dangerous and to many more people,

Roll on the rain!

What action would you suggest?

Stop the burning.

Ok bright star, and just how do you propose to do that, how do you change a very cost effective habit of centuries for rural farmers? Also, what makes you think the pollution is caused by burning within Thailand, maybe the majority of it is carried in on air currents from China and the like!

The little red dots on the map clearly show the problem is from here,or am I misreading it?

Just as an aside,we have a guest here from China suposedly for 2 more weeks and she has now booked her flight home at the weekend because of this appaling situation.

[chiang mai]

The red dots do indeed show prominenet fires and in that respect virtually all of Thailand and the neighbouring countries are are pretty much saturated. What is less clear, given the scale of the map, is exactly where the borders are and where the areas of fire density exist - on previous maps that I've seen there are large areas of high density fire areas to the West, North and East of Chiang Mai and the volume of significant fire spots in Chiang Mai/Rai province by comparison was minimal. So, to answer the question, we need a greater magnification map, Tywais, any chance?

[Tywais]

What is less clear, given the scale of the map, is exactly where the borders are

I just produced a satellite overlay trying to line it up as best as I could in order to see the country boundaries.

[LadyHeather]

Seems like the updates on regional air quality / PM10 Chiang Mai stop on January 31st. Convenient.

Unless, of course, you read the notice that says:

This system stop report at 31 January 2012.

You can use new system at http://aqmthai.com (in thai) for Air Quality Report in Thailand.

http://aqmthai.com

[Tywais]

City Hall Monitoring Station

35t. City Hall. 2012-02-17. 11:00:00. 02.01. 21.8. 35.1. 0.2. 108.87

[chiang mai]

What is less clear, given the scale of the map, is exactly where the borders are

I just produced a satellite overlay trying to line it up as best as I could in order to see the country boundaries.

Thanks.

[bettiebebop]

First time in CM, been here 2 weeks but today it hit me hard! I don't know if i'm a pollution-wuss but I can barely stay outside 2 minutes without my chest feeling tight and my head aching..

[Tywais]

This is via Google Translate so need to read via context, but pretty easy to get the idea.

Meetings in the district and provincial levels to monitor the situation through the VDO Conference with smoke. Wildfire closely. The Deputy Governor of Chiang Mai emphasized that all sectors of the provincial and district levels to prevent haze and forest fires intensified the situation was more serious attitude to prepare them to cope with all situations. continued on 15 Feb 55 at 13:30 am at City Hall, 3rd Floor, POC, Mr. Chapin Choochart sports Deputy Governor of Chiang Mai. Chairman of the relevant departments at the provincial and 25 district representatives of Chiang Mai.

To monitor the situation. And performance protection. The haze and forest fires through the VDO Conference by Mr. Larsen, Director, Office of Natural Resources Banpot flag and Chiang Mai have reported measurements of air quality in Chiang Mai. Between 1 January - 14 February 2555 that it was good to moderate air quality. It was found that the air quality standard (AQI) for 3 days between 9 - 11 February 2555 the amount of particles larger than 10 microns (PM10) 24-hour average ranged from 26.3 to 78.71 micrograms per cubic meter.

The air quality monitoring stations on February 15, 2555 at City Hall in the PM10 (mean 24 hours), the maximum 81.63 micrograms / cubic meter. And air quality monitoring station at Crown College, a school with the highest value 69.5 micrograms / cubic meter. For the record, and notify the fire. From October 1 - February 14, 2555 a fire in the 16 districts of 162 times the forest was burnt and damaged, including 963 acres in the area where the fire up and Hod have the cumulative total of 25 times the damage 160. acres, followed by the Doi Saket.

A forest fire statistics accumulated 20 107 hectares of damaged area of ​​the district's No. 3 on the statistics of the 19 retained fire damaged 68 acres of forest fire statistics collection period a week. Day 8 - February 14, 2555 occurred in 15 districts and 90 of the forest has been damaged, 548 acres for the 9th District is a fire in 2555 the District of Doi Lor Galyani Vadhana, Wiang Haeng Mae Mae Wang Chang Doi Tao. Sarapee San Pa Tong district and the representatives of 25 districts have reported the problem and prevent forest fires and haze in the area. By the public to raise awareness of the problem and the impact of forest fires and haze affecting public health. And cooperation in refraining from the burning of all kinds.

Chiang Mai News

[luther]

New to Chiang Mai. Last year, of course, was not like this. Once the pollution reaches this level, does it stay this bad until it rains or does it dramatically increases and decrease during the next weeks ahead?

[Semper]

Anecdotal, but today (Feb 17th) seems like the worst yet. No sign of the sun until 8.30 and as I write the scene outside has a sickly dull orange glow that reminds me of countless post apocalypse movies. Your reporter in Nong Hoi.

2 pm and yet no sign of the sun here in Padet. But on he bright side, it will be cool all day.

[chiang mai]

I'm sure it's a product of Google translate but that report (post 26) is mostly unintelligible, the use of plus or minus when discussing PM10 levels is important! Important also to note is the information date of 15 February, retrospective at best.

Edited February 17, 2012 by chiang mai

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

Here is older photo of my view on a clear day and one from just a few minutes ago.