When is burn season in Chiang Mai?

[YankeeVet]

Wife and I lived there until several years ago. Planning our next trip back and have two toddlers now. Don't want to expose them to the smoke in February/March. Wife wants to stay until the first week of March but I can't remember when the burning starts. Anyone remember when it gets bad?

[lannarebirth]

From mid February to early April. Peaks in mid March.

[BuddhaMind]

As the above stated... February to April. My first experience, last year, was that it was tolerable in February, me thinking "this is not so bad," and then it REALLY hit in March and I was saying, "I will never be living in Chiang Mai during March again." Personally, I thought it was awful, and now have to figure out where to go, what to do, in March 2014. It's that bad.

[YankeeVet]

Thanks for the replies. So we may be good till end of Feb. maybe 1st week of March. I remember how bad it was 3 years ago and thinking if I had small kids I would send them south for a month.

[masuk]

Thanks for the replies. So we may be good till end of Feb. maybe 1st week of March. I remember how bad it was 3 years ago and thinking if I had small kids I would send them south for a month.

Bear in mind that March is also one of the hottest months. Find a place with a good beach or pool. South was not too bad this year, but then the fires in Indonesia started.

[Thailand]

Last year started in December through to April.

[Tywais]

Last year started in December through to April.

Actually was only really noticeable beginning January 14th when I started this topic.

[Thailand]

Last year started in December through to April.

Actually was only really noticeable beginning January 14th when I started this topic.

I think it was post the 3rd?rice harvest of the year and the stubble was starting to be burnt, at least along the canal road from the Samoeng turn off down towards San Patong on to Chom Tong from the last couple of weeks of December building towards the highs of Feb/March.

[hellodolly]

Last year started in December through to April.

Actually was only really noticeable beginning January 14th when I started this topic.

Not sure but I believe there was some burning left over from the year before. I know that in December I smelled it on about two days. As far as noticeable can't give you the exact date as it would be different for every one but March as predictable was the killer. We used the air con 24 7 to combat it. Seems to me like it lasted longer last year also.

But as stated already it is normally 6 to 8 weeks with March being 4 of them. I think it is worse for some because they are super sensitive to it. These people should reexamine living in the North and consider the South.

I had a chart of the last ten years giving each months rating. I will see if I can find it. Actually Winnie gave it to me I needed it in a presentation I was doing. I have it some place here. Being tech challenged is a pain in the ass.

Edited August 24, 2013 by hellodolly

[hellodolly]

Tywais

I sent you a personal message.

[Tywais]

Tywais

I sent you a personal message.

Not sure how your link turned out as it had as I had to do some magic to it to get the image finally out of it. Here is your image.

[DaamNaam]

I remember some years when there was no "hazy season" at all. Hoping to see one next year.

[hellodolly]

Tywais

I sent you a personal message.

Not sure how your link turned out as it had as I had to do some magic to it to get the image finally out of it. Here is your image.

post-64232-0-67020200-1367416512.jpg

Well it does blow up very nicely and show the different months over the last ten years. Clearly March is the bad boy. As for February and April well those figures are averages. They would reflect that it was the last two weeks of February and the first two weeks of April that bring the month average up. Of course year to year can be different but over all it is March that is the bad boy.

Thanks for posting it.

[nycjoe]

It has a lot to do with the rain. But it is a problem that originates in a large area north and west of Chiang mai. I have seen maps with smoke coming from Myanmar and china. Starts in fe. Ends in early may or when the rains come.

[rascalman]

And April too. I could not deal with it!

[Torrens54]

Back when I was a Visitor, not a resident of Chiang Mai, I found October/November to be good and fairly clear.

We still suggest those months for most people wanting to visit us.

[super22k]

If you email the Scottish National Party they will tell you when Burns Night is.

[northernjohn]

I clicked on the chart in post number 11 by Tywais and it enlarged to a chart showing every month for ten years. Some years a month was better than it was last year or worse but the over all one as the most smog was March. I would imagine Feb. builds up to it and April tapers down from it.

Click on it and it will answer all your questions about the past. Not a clue to the future.

[Khun Falang]

My question is not about the smoke, but still has to do with Chiang Mai and the seasons... When is the next rice cutting / harvesting time in Chiang Mai? I would like to time my next trip to see the rice harvesting.

Thanks.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

My question is not about the smoke, but still has to do with Chiang Mai and the seasons... When is the next rice cutting / harvesting time in Chiang Mai? I would like to time my next trip to see the rice harvesting.

Thanks.

End of the rainy season is a good time. End of October, early November. Then catch Loy Krathong; it's a good time to visit.

[Tywais]

I took this photo on December 11, 2010.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Right, but by then they're clearing the dried out plants, I think November is a better bet to see golden fields and the harvesting?

[Tywais]

Right, but by then they're clearing the dried out plants, I think November is a better bet to see golden fields and the harvesting?

I believe you are right as it seems the rice stacks after cutting were setting in the field drying for some time before the actual collection began.

[KRS1]

wasnt so bad in 2013, compared to 2011, now that was thick.

[Thailand]

wasnt so bad in 2013, compared to 2011, now that was thick.

If I remember 2011, wasn't that the year of the floods and hardly any burning because of the constant rain?

[hellodolly]

wasnt so bad in 2013, compared to 2011, now that was thick.

If I remember 2011, wasn't that the year of the floods and hardly any burning because of the constant rain?

Not sure what the problem is there is a chart in post 11 that shows 2011 to be a very good year check it out 2012 was the bad one. I clicked on the chart and March 2012 showed up as the second worst month in ten years.

Best to use the chart as we all occasionally can get mixed up on the time factor.

[personchester]

I remember some years when there was no "hazy season" at all. Hoping to see one next year.

The causing of the poisonous burning season in Chiang Mai for several months a year is the farmers rubbish burning, the local authorities have in the past several times restricted them for doing this, but they carry on with this burning habit in an old century long tradition, and do not appear to alter it..

Many inhabitants in Chiang Mai, Thai people and foreigners, suffer from this poisonous effectiveness and many need to go to hospital, and may have to stay for a while in hospital.

There is nothing the farangs in Chiang Mai can do about it, they just have to protect their breading's when the burning begins.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

One thing to keep in mind in this discussion is that not everyone has the same definition of what 'burn season' means, and so you get different answers.

Some people take it to mean 'whenever it's dry enough for farmers and villagers alike to start burning rice fields, leaves and trash'. So then you get a start date of pretty much November. Because in November someone's neighbor, somewhere in some village, is going to burn leaves and trash or his rice field and it'll cause a smoke issue in that area. "So that's when it starts". Which is fair enough, for that definition of 'it'.

Others look at the region wide haze that covers much of Northern Thailand, Burma, China and go by the air quality figures. Those people will say 'it' starts somewhere in late February or early March, and ends late march or early April. Looking at it this way 'it' never ever started earlier than mid Feb and never ever went on past Songkran. (mid April, so well before the rainy season starts in earnest.). Which is fair enough, for that definition of 'it'.

My personal opinion: Get the #$(&$% out of Dodge in March.

Air quality issues in late February do occur in some years, and even early April though that's not as common. There seems to be a relationship also; if February remains clear (i.e. the season starting late) then there is a higher chance of it going on longer, into the first half of April.

[elektrified]

My personal opinion: Get the #$(&$% out of Dodge in March.

Yup, we leave every March and head to the beach for the month. It's just not liveable here during that time. Also the kids are always sick with respiratory infections during this time if we don't get outta here.

[Mapguy]

There is some agricultural burning throughout the year, such as clearing orchard brush, but the burning of rice straw starts in December. That burning and the pollution it causes become more intensive as the weeks pass with forest burning and peaks at different times from mid-Febraury - mid-April.

The weather has variable impact. As the weather becomes drier and drier, local leaf and brush burning (often with trash added) picks up significantly along with the agricultural and forest burning. This might be by your neighbors or it might be down the road where highway crews are burning the verges. Rain has a lot to do with how bad things get. In some years, rain dampens the pollution, at least for a while. A couple of years ago a long series of intermittent showers beginning in January really snuffed out a lot of burning. Sometimes atmospheric conditions (pressure systems) also effect how persistent and intensive the pollution can be. Winds bring in pollution --- or push it out. Each year is somewhat different from the others.

One of the new government tactics is to encourage farmers to spread out the burning so the pollution is not so intensive over a short period of time! That information is from PCD. The amount of PM<10 pollution may be decreasing annually over several years, but certainly slowly and not always consistently noted. The problem, however, remains.

The burning and local pollution can vary quite a bit depending on where you are from the Central Plains to the Mekong and West to the Myanmar border. Even locally there can be differences in the Chiang Mai valley, but when pollution is at its height, it can be pervasive throughout the valley.

It really is hard to predict when pollution will be at its worst. If you can stay away all of March, you'll probably miss the worst of it --- but there are no guarantees you won't be discommoded in late February or early April. Unfortunately, most of us aren't so fancy free or rich to leave town for an entire month. Anyone want to bet on what days in March will be really nasty in case you can manage a week or so away ?!

Edited August 26, 2013 by Mapguy