Rain clears haze in all areas but upper north

Warattaya Chailanka

The Nation

Rain has effectively removed the smog problem from all northern provinces except Chiang Rai and Mae Hong Son.

BANGKOK: -- The Pollution Control Department (PCD) has found that the amount of small dust particles - or those in the size of PM10 - is already below the dangerous level in most northern provinces after the heavy rain.

Before the rain, the northern region had faced smog-related health threats for weeks.

Yesterday, only Mae Hong Son and Chiang Rai struggled with dangerously high amounts of PM10 particles.

For people to remain healthy, the amount of PM10 particles should not soar above 120 micrograms per cubic metre of air. In Mae Hong Son, levels stood at 359 micrograms per cubic metre of air. In Chiang Rai, they were recorded at 158 micrograms.

Natural Resources and Environment Ministry permanent secretary Chote Trachu, however, said that at some points the amount of small dust particles in the air above Chiang Rai's Mae Sae district soared as high as 438 micrograms per cubic metre of air. "It's harmful to people's health," he said.

He said the smog in this border zone had worsened partly because people in neighbouring Burma had continued to light fires to clear land for farming.

Chote said there were more than 900 fire hotspots in Burma.

"We are seeking co-operation in Burma because the smoke there is blowing over here," he said.

Chiang Rai disaster prevention and mitigation chief Prajon Prajsakul said, "The problem stems partly from a high-pressure ridge, which blocks the smoke from soaring higher and higher."

Chiang Rai Governor Thanin Supasaen ordered that water be sprayed into the air to ease the smog. Masks were also handed out to locals so they could protect themselves.

However, in other areas the rain has proved effective in eradicating the smog problem. For example, the amount of PM10 particles in Lampang significantly dropped from 177 micrograms per cubic metre of air to just 68 micrograms. Yesterday, the PCD reported the PM10 in Chiang Mai's Muang district stood at just 103 micrograms.

Figures recorded in Nan, Lamphun, Phrae and Phayao stood at 74.58 micrograms, 118.88 micrograms, 54.92 micrograms, and 102.57 micrograms.

-- The Nation 2012-03-12

"He said the smog in this border zone had worsened partly because people in neighboring Burma had continued to light fires to clear land for farming".

Must be the Burmese working on the Thai farms! Yesterday was slightly better, I could actually see the contours of the mountains, but also several big fires still burning on the fields and in the mountains. So keep blaming the neighbors and ignore your own wrongdoings! Rain is not the solution to the problem, cause when the rains clear the problem will return. The real slash and burn hasn't even started yet! The rice is still on the fields!

I have given up, and will leave for Bangkok and the Gulf with my wife and daughter this week. My visiting family will spend their tourist dollars elsewhere now.

I love Chinag Rai, it's very pretty, friendly people, great nam priks and all, but after a full week of coughing and annoyance over just everyone ignoring this, the non-existing law enfrocement, we had enough.

No heavy rain in Chiang Mai and smog still here

No heavy rain in Chiang Mai and smog still here

No rain at all where we are.Doi Suthep still not visible from our house and we are not too far away and I believe the mountain is quite big,if I remember correctly!

"He said the smog in this border zone had worsened partly because people in neighboring Burma had continued to light fires to clear land for farming".

Must be the Burmese working on the Thai farms! Yesterday was slightly better, I could actually see the contours of the mountains, but also several big fires still burning on the fields and in the mountains. So keep blaming the neighbors and ignore your own wrongdoings! Rain is not the solution to the problem, cause when the rains clear the problem will return. The real slash and burn hasn't even started yet! The rice is still on the fields!

I have given up, and will leave for Bangkok and the Gulf with my wife and daughter this week. My visiting family will spend their tourist dollars elsewhere now.

I love Chinag Rai, it's very pretty, friendly people, great nam priks and all, but after a full week of coughing and annoyance over just everyone ignoring this, the non-existing law enfrocement, we had enough.

You are not alone in your feeling and decision. I know 3 families in Chiang Mai packing up as we speak.

In Chiang Mai the city fathers continue collecting their bloated salaries and do not even bother to saang phaap (create the image) that they care.

A crisis, near catastrophe, is needed to move a Thai to do what is necessary to solve a problem.

Only after dozens die as the direct result of pollution, smog and particles higher than 120 microns (the Downtown Inn with its numerous "coincidental deaths" still in business as usual) will the politicos in this part of the land will start considering, planing, etc. and say they will do something about it.

Until the next crisis... In the meantime, wats will keep on getting many offerings to wash away pollution, floods, etc.

Offerings and saang phaap are good ways of avoiding having to do actual work for which they get paid handsomely.

Thailand needs a miracle... Soon!

Doi Suthep is ablaze every night. Maybe clear out the hill tribes, like the gypsies?

The air in Chiang Mai does seem to be better than the past week, however looking at Doi Suthep, you can see its outlines through a haze, so yeah, definitely not perfect. Didn't rain here for the las 6 weeks that I've been here and I'm really hoping for a downpour in this city. The weather forecast calls for 40% precipitation for the week. Let's hope it happens. http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=zmw:00000.1.48327&MR=1

I don't understand why everyone is so pesimistic honestly, packing up and leaving because of the smog? What a joke, and move where? Bangkok, yeah there's no smog down there. Things cleared up last night and soon the rains will come and it'll all be over for another year. It's nowhere near as bad as Beijing or what LA used to be like 10 years ago and even then it's still worse than here in my mind. Say what you will about it things are still better in Chiang Mai than elsewhere in Thailand.

I am so glad that the PM10 particle reading was so very healthy yesterday in Lamphun where we live.

120 micrograms per cubic metre of air is the start of the hazard level -- yet the announced reading for Lamphun yesterday was a mere 118.88.

It must be the result of all the road sprinkling being done.

We are all so grateful for the efforts being made to solve the problem !

My childhood was in the days of the London "smogs" called "peasoupers". I remember in particular the Great Smog of 1952 which caused 4000 deaths, when I supplemented my pocket money by walking ahead of cars with a torch. Most from that time and place have had chronic sinusitis ever since, me included.

Do people seriously believe the "official" figures being handed out re pollution?

Edited March 12, 201214 yr by blazes

I don't understand why everyone is so pesimistic honestly, packing up and leaving because of the smog? What a joke, and move where? Bangkok, yeah there's no smog down there. Things cleared up last night and soon the rains will come and it'll all be over for another year. It's nowhere near as bad as Beijing or what LA used to be like 10 years ago and even then it's still worse than here in my mind. Say what you will about it things are still better in Chiang Mai than elsewhere in Thailand.

This is like being asked "would you prefer to be eaten by a lion or a crocodile?"

I don't understand why everyone is so pesimistic honestly, packing up and leaving because of the smog? What a joke, and move where? Bangkok, yeah there's no smog down there. Things cleared up last night and soon the rains will come and it'll all be over for another year. It's nowhere near as bad as Beijing or what LA used to be like 10 years ago and even then it's still worse than here in my mind. Say what you will about it things are still better in Chiang Mai than elsewhere in Thailand.

You can downplay the fact that some people are packing, but I think it is wise to pack when the conditions are like this and you have a choice! Over the past weeks the situation got worse by the day. Normal activities such as shopping, sports, walking with your little one had become a drag. So why you call it a joke is beyond me! Comparing the situation here with LA or other situations is laughable cause it doesnt make it right! I wish you all the best in Chiang Mai and hope the skies will clear, because the smog, or better said haze, is dangerous and bad for your health!

Sounds of thunder around Chiang Mai tonight so hoping for air cleaning rain - and Doi Suthep can at last be seen from my house. But next February we will go south for a month or so. I feel sorry for all of those unable to choose to move for clean(er) air. Disappointing that the response from all levels of government has been so lame - lots of expressions of concern but no serious plans for reduction in 2013.

CBR250