Smoke, Smog, Dust 2013 Chiang Mai

[cloudhopper]

Viz about 300 meters in Pai this morning.

[dave2]

re

Viz about 300 meters in Pai this morning

pic 1 view of doi surthep a week ago

pic 2 view of doi surthep 10 minits ago : (

dave2

[MMan]

Today is by far the worst day of the year for the haze in Chiang Mai. 'Clear' visibility today is about 200 meters and while you can still easily see for 2-3 few blocks, things start to get noticeably a bit fuuzzy looking after 200 meters. Yesterday I could at least see a vague outline of Doi Suthep. Totally gone today.

[T_Dog]

Saw lots of burning in the mountains last night and it was still afire this morning at 5 AM. Air quality is much worse today here in Mae Taeng so it looks like the bad air is starting to seep in. Sorry to hear about your visibility up there in Pai. Must be marvelous for the tourists.

By the way, has anyone heard any community speaker announcements to stop burning? Not a word up this way and for the local farmers and hill folks, it is burning business as usual. The pressure to stop burning looks to be about zero.

[T_Dog]

I see Chiang Mai's PM10 level is up to 110, but now on http://aqmthai.com/ they are calling it a "moving average". Anyone know how they are calculating that? The actual daily level (not averaged) could be quite a bit higher than the healthy limit but it would never be reflected in the moving average figure. Air in Mae Taeng today is rasty bad. Visibility is over 2 kilometers but still not as bad as last year. Lots of burning going on.

Edited March 1, 2013 by T_Dog

[Tywais]

I see Chiang Mai's PM10 level is up to 110, but now on http://aqmthai.com/ they are calling it a "moving average". Anyone know how they are calculating that. The actual daily level (not averaged) could be quite a bit higher than the healthy limit but it would never be reflected in the moving average figure. Air in Mae Taeng today is rasty bad. Visibility is over 2 kilometers but still not as bad as last year. Lots of burning going on.

Their site shows it as a 24 hour moving average so depending on how often they sample it would be (Total sum of PM10 readings / number of samples taken). This is trend or forecast analysis. Last few days. Believe this shows the actual peaks and valleys throughout the day for each day.

City Hall

Yupparaj School

[Mapguy]

The last two days of February saw a significant increase in "large" fires in the Doi Suthep-Pui Area reported by NASA Firms. Within this area, there is a pattern of sorts. The fires are mostly agricultural (i.e., not in the forested mountain areas). There is a definite concentration of them in the general area where Rte. 1095 (The Pai Road) meets Rte. 107 (Mae Rim-Chiang Dao Road). They tend to be between Rte 107 and the river.

NASA Firms (two satellites at work) really doesn't pick up many local fires, so my guess is that the fires are more extensive lately. That seems to be confirmed by the posts immediately above.

There is a problem devining patterns. Over the season as a whole the general pattern is that everyone eventually burns! But you can definitely nail some of them with coordinates and date a lot of fires. Then, you can ask (especially with large two(or more)-day-old fires if these fires responded to and by whom. Also, you can ask who owns the land. It is relatively easy to identify purposeful fires set by farmers in their fields. Those who set fires in rough forested mountainous areas are harder to nail.

Go get 'em!!

Edited March 1, 2013 by Mapguy

[Mapguy]

So far, the local English-language news media coverage (Chiang Mai News and Chiang Mai Mail) has been namby-pamby. As usual. Both have a weakness for publishing official governmental news releases. There is nothing wrong with talking about meetings, plans, and public education programs, BUT that is truly lazy journalism. Occasionally (rarely) one of the newspapers will do a serious interview or publish (about once a year) "tsk tsk" photos and stories of people choking on Huey Kaew. Usually the latter.

So, editors, why not not park in the Governor's anteroom or the fire reporting "command centers" and start asking some meaningful questions about actual reports of blazes, their location, which agency responded to them, what arrests were made, and so on. What about periodic perpetrator stories, or are there no "perps" to parade? Why?

No balls! (to be somewhat ironic!)

Maybe we should burn copies of those newspapers in protest !!!

PS And a petition is NOT needed!

Edited March 1, 2013 by Mapguy

[MESmith]

Opened the 48hour fire kmz file for SE Asia in google earth. Shows a fire right in the middle of Alpine Golf Course near Ban Thi. I wonder how accurate it is. These must be major fires to show up.

Edited March 2, 2013 by MESmith

[siamamerican]

Few more days and I'm out of here. Good luck to you all surviving this years CM air. Biking up to Suthep yesterday and a songthaew was spewing so much crap that you couldn't even see the passengers. Sadly enough this is the norm and only getting worse each year the taxis get older and local government ignores the death they are causing.

Now I just laugh at the idiocracy and hope some day local politicians will care about health of their constituents Not holding my breath though and fortunate to have the luxury of leaving CM.

[RED21]

Was out an about last Friday in Maetang, and in the farm just a few blocks from where I stay they were burning stuff again. Sigh... Was tempted to whip out my camera and take pictures... The sun is now a flourescent red instead of yellow-orange during dusk, and when I look up during the day it's all grey.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

I see Chiang Mai's PM10 level is up to 110, but now on http://aqmthai.com/ they are calling it a "moving average". Anyone know how they are calculating that? The actual daily level (not averaged) could be quite a bit higher than the healthy limit but it would never be reflected in the moving average figure.

They explain it on the site, it's a moving 24 hour average, so the average for the day. Of course there are peaks and dips through the day, this is why the new aqmthai site is so good; as it provides near real-time information. We never got that before, as only the daily average was provided. Environmental standards anywhere also go by daily average.

Note that you have the option of a graph or a table layout showing all individual readings, so you can calculate averages or other statistics any way you want.

So far it's been a really good year, though it also seems likely that we'll see higher PM10 readings the coming weeks. I'm leaving this coming week myself, it's the perfect time for a holiday with the schools closed anyway.

Edited March 3, 2013 by WinnieTheKhwai

[jonwilly]

I am sensitive to the 'Smog' but must admit so far this year I have not been affected in a negative sense.

Yesterday around 08.30 I could see Doi Suthep, but not the Temple, from the internal Wing 41 road but on returning from down town at 11.00 could not make out Doi Suthep at all from the Irrigation Canal.

I have my plans made for a quick departure and now will just wait and see.

john

[Rasseru]

. . . Not holding my breath though . . .

Too bad. You should, as much as possible.

[cloudhopper]

An unexpected thunderstorm last night has improved the viz somewhat in the Pai valley today. Looks like we could get another one later on today...

[nikster]

An unexpected thunderstorm last night has improved the viz somewhat in the Pai valley today. Looks like we could get another one later on today...

There's rains predicted for the next 3 days; supposed to be 60% chance in Chiang Mai but so far seeing it only indirectly as the air has improved a little bit.

Not been as bad as Pai down here so far, but from what I hear Pai locals doing their best to keep it up with fires all around...

[nikster]

Rain, finally. Should keep the air fine for another week or so...

[Mapguy]

Don't place a wager on it!

But, yesterday's major fires in Doi Suthep - Pui, dropped in number after hitting a high in the last four years.

I still wonder what the effect of the rice subsidy is having on increasing land under cultivation and pushing production. Both apparently bring on more burning (as well as surpluses of poor rice varieties).

There have been some very sensible posts on past threads over the years about the complexity of the problem. Lots of socio-economic factors are involved. It is not that people in the hills, for example, just don't give a shit. That's a slur. They generally eek out a living. On the other hand, large landowners on the plains who systematically burn vast paddies are being greedy, in my view. They can afford to use other practices.

Otherwise, I would wager that many, many advanced agricultural societies have gone through the same stages from slash-and-burn methods of farming to more modern agricultural practices that are less polluting. Foreigners not familiar with agricultural history can be altogether too critical.

...and that's only beginning to get into it.

Nonetheless, the case for alternative agricultural practices is compelling. I am not suggesting that matters can not be improved now. I believe that they can. I am all for public education programs (although some of that gets very silly in Thailand, like the English-language public advertising), but more economic incentive needs to be provided for stopping the burning as well as some targeted enforcement of egregious burning by large-scale rice farmers. Nail the bastards! It will set an example!

Edited March 3, 2013 by Mapguy

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

Burning is such a widespread behavior.

I was riding the bicycle around Huay Tung Thao a few weeks ago when the air was pretty good and the army guard guy at the gatepost is burning some trash with copious amounts of plastic.

Isn't there a landfill on the adjoining land? The army can't take out the trash? Isn't that character building Army stuff somebody should be doing?

There are people jogging around the lake, cycling, picnickers and swimmers and the guard thinks nothing of the big white toxic cloud of smoke covering the road.

I just have to laugh at the primitive absurdity of some behaviors.

[cloudhopper]

3 days of rain have removed all the smoke and we are currently enjoying beautiful conditions in Pai.

[Fortunate1]

The three days of rain have cleared the air nicely in Chiangdao however the areas of community forest that are normally burnt off each year haven't started yet.

These forest fires are started in the belief that the mushroom harvest will be improved next season.

Many farmers start fires in their fields in the evenings so that makes it alright then!

[jonwilly]

2011 I had spent two weeks down in Cha Am by this time of March. I watched first two Motor GPs down there still a week away for first of this year.

This morning I could see the Doi Saket hills from my balcony on slopes of Doi Suthep.

john

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Yes.. seems I took a beach holiday for no reason.

Or maybe this is a really good year BECAUSE I left?

WTK

[driedmango]

I wonder if people are burning less after last year

[WinnieTheKhwai]

It's probably the weather more than anything else, Though the trend over many years is an improving one.

I'm near the cost now (Pattaya-Sattahip area) and its actually more hazy here now.

Edited March 8, 2013 by WinnieTheKhwai

[MESmith]

It's probably the weather more than anything else, Though the trend over many years is an improving one.

I'm near the cost now (Pattaya-Sattahip area) and its actually more hazy here now.

Better come home then

Edited March 8, 2013 by MESmith

[T_Dog]

I wonder if people are burning less after last year

I want to say something flippant like "in your wildest dreams", but just can't do it. (But hey, I just did!) The winds this year have been from the south at good velocities and that has helped to purge the air. The hills where I live are all blackened from burning and the smoke has been carried north. The recent rains and cool air have helped a lot to make this season an EXCEPTIONALLY clean air year so far. Last year the winds came from the north and brought in a lot of smoke. This year is definitely different. I have run into dozens of people burning..... the paradigm has not changed an iota.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Whatever the causes, mitigating factors or aggravating factors though, the trend is down towards less pollution. There are some good years and some bad years, but if you look at it over ten years or more then the trend is towards improvement, which I find encouraging.

Another non-factual sign of improvement that I see is government and media pay attention to haze and burning BEFORE it's actually at emergency levels. That didn't used to be the case, media and government acted like it was a total surprise every year.

It's probably the weather more than anything else, Though the trend over many years is an improving one.

I'm near the cost now (Pattaya-Sattahip area) and its actually more hazy here now.

Better come home then

Nah. Too many attractions still to see. And it's not too bad, just a bit worse than Chiang Mai right now.

Edited March 9, 2013 by WinnieTheKhwai

[cloudhopper]

Another thunderstorm last night has kept the area too wet for burning. And this morning a dense fog. Unusual but welcome.

[limegreenpatato]

I judge the smoke levels by if i can see the mountain. and i can see it almost 100% clear today....and for the last few days. After the shitty march we had last year, this year has been amazing.