Smoke, Smog, Dust 2015 Chiang Mai

[A12341]

About an hour North of CM, air quality deteriorated sharply and seemed to get worse, remaining constantly dire all the way into CR. It was so bad that we stopped at a 7/11 to buy face masks, the first time we've needed to do so in over eleven years. BTW the 20 baht "Dr Mask" jobbies from 7/11 are made in Japan and are effective at reducing symptoms.

Those masks should be pretty ok. Just have to remember to wear and ensure a good fit to your face esp at the sides chin regions..

If you're referring to the surgical-type masks, they just don't fit that snugly, but I guess it's better than nothing...

[A12341]

I'm not sure what happened with the 36t location on the aqmthai site, but the PM2.5 numbers haven't been posted since 3pm yesterday. I guess we have to rely on the PM10 readings, though they're not as good indicators of air quality/safety...

Seems to be some odd things happening occasionally on a few reporting sites. Reload the page completely and you should be back in business.

Unfortunately it seems the hourly numbers just aren't be recorded at that location at the moment. There is just a dash after the time... This has happened before, just not for this long. Thanks for the reply though!

[vivid]

If you're referring to the surgical-type masks, they just don't fit that snugly, but I guess it's better than nothing...

The surgical masks are not too good, don't think that they are so expensive also. Even over here in Singapore, a pack of 10 costs about SGD1.90 or 40 THB (direct conversion). I even got 2 boxes of 100 x 2 surgical 3-ply masks for THB 80, and trust me when i say Singapore regular retail items are very expensive.

But other than N95/N99/N100/P95, KN90, FFP-1 2 and 3, there are some other smaller brands of anti pollution masks. Seen a taiwanese version of anti pollution mask in the local SG supermarket before, supposedly has an electrostatically charged filter element (same as N95).

3M Nexcare has some general purpose masks that can filter 99% of say ragweed pollen, which do go below 1 micron. Decent fit also.

Edit - don't know about Thai/Myanmar haze....but Indonesia peat biomass haze does go down to 0.15 microns. China photochemical smog due to secondary particles (reaction of NO2/SO2) goes down to 0.02 microns.

Edited March 20, 2015 by vivid

[vivid]

THE Thai authorities continued battling forest fires in northern Thailand yesterday as the smog eased slightly in some spots. Still, experts say the haze this year is the worst since 2007 and are uncertain when air pollution will recede to safe levels. The smog is an annual scourge during the parched January to April period as farmers in Thailand, Laos and Myanmar burn their agricultural waste after harvest. During this time, the number of people with respiratory ailments spikes while planes cannot land because visibility is too low. "This year is the worst," said Dr Phongtape Wiwatanadate, director of Chiang Mai University's Centre for Air Quality Research and Management, which has been monitoring air quality since 2007. There are now more days where the air pollution exceeds acceptable standards, as well as higher levels of pollutants in the air, he said.

- See more at: http://www.straitstimes.com/the-big-story/asia-report/singapore/story/spore-copters-help-douse-forest-fires-thailand-20150320#sthash.2r1QyrSh.dpuf

Edited March 20, 2015 by vivid

[Awk]

Indeed, things are not looking good now. Above is the second article I've seen recently indicating the smog will remain for a while, and graphs based on data from the last 4 years also indicate that things will only gradually start improving, hopefully from the middle/end of next week.

Been procrastinating (for financial and other reasons) about driving down south to Hua Hin as usual this year, once little Awk's school takes a three week break at the end of next week, but looks like we will have to do that drive again. This entire week she and baby Awk have been locked in the bedroom almost the entire time, with the air purifier at max the whole time, rather than attending school as usual. Unfortunately I pulled her out of school a few days too late, so she had already developed the "Chiang Mai cough". :-(

Edited March 20, 2015 by Awk

[vivid]

Bro awk, you ought to get at least a second air purifier....for the living room.

Well, the light haze in Singapore since yesterday has worsened a bit for the past 3 hrs. Malaysia too. Seems like we too are joiningntou folks, albeit at much lower levels.

[Awk]

Bro awk, you ought to get at least a second air purifier....for the living room.

Well, the light haze in Singapore since yesterday has worsened a bit for the past 3 hrs. Malaysia too. Seems like we too are joiningntou folks, albeit at much lower levels.

Actually I have tried carrying both the Blueair 650Es down from the upstairs bedrooms and in to the livingrooom, and running them at full blast there. After several hours, there is little improvement in air quality unfortunately. After 5-6 hours, it looked like an improvement was appearing, though I would have to repeat that test several times to feel confident about it. And in any case, 5-6 hours is too long.

Unfortunately the living room is very large, and perhaps equally important, has nothing to close it off from the second floor. Additionally, insulation is quite poor in mid-class Thai houses here usually. Perhaps if I had five 650E's, or a couple of the largest "pro" models I read Blueair is introducing "soon", it would suffice.

Anyway, we are hoping to start building our own house soon, and that is one of the problems I will spend some time on thinking about how to alleviate.

[TheScribe]

Air purifiers are good (even though replacement filters are extremely expensive). But most houses in Thailand let the polluted air in very quickly - especially if you have the usual sliding windows, and modern houses have a lot of windows. A good idea is to buy a few rolls of masking tape from Home-Pro etc. and tape over all the window edges and (non-essential) doors, sealing up the gaps as much as possible. Masking tape is good because its designed to block spray paint, and can be pulled off at the end of the season without doing damage to existing paintwork. Keeps a lot the muck out even if you don't have a purifier.

Edited March 20, 2015 by TheScribe

[chiang mai]

Another answer is to increase internal air pressure within the house thus eliminating inbound air from unwanted sources. That can be achieved by using a small air pump that draws air into the house, from a single, heavily filtered point (figure a box wrapped in 3M Filltrette),

[chiang mai]

An interesting map presented by poster vivid above, perhaps useful to add/include the numbers for southern Thailand also, in order to conclude whether the Malaysian picture results from Myanmar, Malaysia itself, Indonesia or elsewhere.

[vivid]

Results from Singapore. Today. Singapore is a small island that is slightly bigger than Phuket, hence only N, S, E, W and central.

The index used here is PSI, a bit different. Just take it as it is.

But you guys can definitely appreciate 1-hr PM2.5 figures.

[chiang mai]

Except Singapore and Phuket are in different locations!

The challenge remains open.

[happy Joe]

Although these fumes are a bit annoying I have trouble understanding the general hysteria of Thai Visa members for this little problem.

I live in Chiang Mai and I think without reading these comments I would alarming me not realize these fumes. However, I suffer from heat overwhelming these days + 40 degrees.

For champions of tearful complaints take your troubles patiently. In a few days the storms will greatly alleviate these annoyances. Must be find another whining theme based on small graphics that go up or down.

Edited March 20, 2015 by happy Joe

[TheScribe]

Although these fumes are a bit annoying I have trouble understanding the general hysteria of Thai Visa members for this little problem.

I live in Chiang Mai and I think without reading these comments I would alarming me not realize these fumes. However, I suffer from heat overwhelming these days + 40 degrees.

For champions of tearful complaints take your troubles patiently. In a few days the storms will greatly alleviate these annoyances. Must be find another whining theme based on small graphics that go up or down.

Well I assume that you are a young, fit adult male without any heart or lung health problems. Good for you, and I understand that this seems "a little problem".

However, a lot of the folks in this forum (and living in CM town or province) are not in that category. A lot of us are in our later years, or have young children, and the health of ourselves and our families can and sometimes is impacted in a major way by this pollution. If you've been up a few nights with a cough and heart palpitations, or been kept awake by a coughing asthmatic five-year old, you wouldn't feel the same about it. You wouldn't feel the same way about it at all. Just saying.

Edited March 20, 2015 by TheScribe

[chiang mai]

Although these fumes are a bit annoying I have trouble understanding the general hysteria of Thai Visa members for this little problem.

I live in Chiang Mai and I think without reading these comments I would alarming me not realize these fumes. However, I suffer from heat overwhelming these days + 40 degrees.

For champions of tearful complaints take your troubles patiently. In a few days the storms will greatly alleviate these annoyances. Must be find another whining theme based on small graphics that go up or down.

"In a few days the storms will greatly alleviate these annoyances".

Remember, you read it here first!.

[vivid]

Bro awk, you ought to get at least a second air purifier....for the living room.

Well, the light haze in Singapore since yesterday has worsened a bit for the past 3 hrs. Malaysia too. Seems like we too are joiningntou folks, albeit at much lower levels.

Actually I have tried carrying both the Blueair 650Es down from the upstairs bedrooms and in to the livingrooom, and running them at full blast there. After several hours, there is little improvement in air quality unfortunately. After 5-6 hours, it looked like an improvement was appearing, though I would have to repeat that test several times to feel confident about it. And in any case, 5-6 hours is too long.

Unfortunately the living room is very large, and perhaps equally important, has nothing to close it off from the second floor. Additionally, insulation is quite poor in mid-class Thai houses here usually. Perhaps if I had five 650E's, or a couple of the largest "pro" models I read Blueair is introducing "soon", it would suffice.

Anyway, we are hoping to start building our own house soon, and that is one of the problems I will spend some time on thinking about how to alleviate.

Wow...the house is really leaky then. I have sliding windows as well, but there are some black gaskets lining the sides. If not for these gaskets, there would be loud howling sounds whenever the wind blows (I live 40+ storeys, so sometimes there are high winds).

You have about 1500 m3/hr worth of housepower. That's a lot and sufficient for about 150 sqm (3 metre ceiling) of cleaning.

[vivid]

They found that outdoor measurements of PM2.5 at a workplace building in Chiang Mai is 43.5ug/m3 annual value.

Compare this with China cities.

http://www.greenpeace.org/eastasia/news/blog/bad-to-worse-ranking-74-chinese-cities-by-air/blog/48181/

Edited March 20, 2015 by vivid

[mesquite]

Although these fumes are a bit annoying I have trouble understanding the general hysteria of Thai Visa members for this little problem.

I live in Chiang Mai and I think without reading these comments I would alarming me not realize these fumes. However, I suffer from heat overwhelming these days + 40 degrees.

For champions of tearful complaints take your troubles patiently. In a few days the storms will greatly alleviate these annoyances. Must be find another whining theme based on small graphics that go up or down.

The "fumes" are really the small particles that can get into your lungs and not get out.

The first real rains will be in about a month, not a few days.

[vivid]

[vivid]

No worries, though PM0.1, PM0.3, PM0.5 cannot get out of the lungs (aveoli) easily, the macrophages would take care of it.

Problem arises when you overload the system though, eg current situation. And it does not take much to overload it. Gets into the blood stream, acts pretty much the same as LDL cholesterol, causes myocardia ischemia, thrombosis and all sort of nasty risks. Depends on your age, lifestyle, diet, activity levels etc.

Yearsafter yearsafter years, some things do get worn out.

[vivid]

http://www.chiangraitimes.com/choking-haze-in-chiang-rai-may-last-until-the-end-of-april.html

CHIANG RAI – Dr. Anond Snidvongs, Executive Director of the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency has warned Thai Authorities that the haze in Northern Thailand may last till end of April unless fire hotspots across the border are put under control.

Dr. Snidvongs, warning comes after remote sensing images released by the National Park, wildlife and Plant Conservation Department Wednesday detected clusters of hotspots scattered in Thailand’s northern and western regions including in Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

The area with concentration of hotspots are in the north and the east of Myanmar bordering Thai border from Mae Hong Son to Tak and Prachuap Khiri Khan provinces.

Other concentration of hotspots were detected in Laos bordering Thailand’s Chiang Rai province, while in Cambodia and Vietnam the hotspots were sparse and not a concern.

But the hotspot map could not exactly identify the fire locations due to limitation of the satellite imagery.

Dr Snidvongs said the particulate measurement of PM10 in the North still exceeded the safety level by over 100 micrograms per cubic metre, while noting that in the Myanmar border the figure exceeded over 1,000.

He said forest fires in Myanmar are mostly close to Thai border and in areas controlled by minority groups and where the Myanmar government could hardly access to.

He said the haze in the morning was mostly caused by burnings by locals particularly in valleys, namely Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, and Mae Hong Son valleys.

While in the afternoon, haze came mostly from burnings across the border in Myanmar, thus worsening the haze condition, he said.

He suggested persistent and stringent effort in fighting haze, saying it should start after the rainy season last year particularly forest fires and burning in forest areas.

He said the current haze campaign was considered too late.

He also said that haze problem could not be 100% solved because most forest fires were caused by burning to prepare land for planting short lived crops such as maize.

He said it needed joint effort by all relevant agencies and effective management in making fire protection zones.

He said the haze situation in Myanmar is 5-10 times more serious than in Thailand, thus have consequences on the Thai side, same as what Singapore was affected by forest fires in Indonesia.

But he said situation in Indonesia is improving, while Thailand was affected by repeated burning from maize farming.

Edited March 20, 2015 by vivid

[CNXBKKMAN]

Well, I guess you are a young adult male fit without any heart or lung health problem. Good for you, and I understand that it seems "a little problem."

However, many of these people in this forum (and life in the city or province CM) are not in that category. Many of us are in our later years, or have young children, and the health of ourselves and our families can sometimes be significantly affected by the pollution. If you have been to a few nights with a cough and heart palpitations, or were kept awake by a five-year asthmatic cough, you do not feel the same about it. You would not feel the same about it at all. Suffice it to say.

I am retired as most of you but I think without irony that the disease occurs with the thought of the disease ...

More seriously I meet now an ephemera insect invasion, rain sign in the west. However, thunderstorms are not expected until Monday.

Some good points there happy joe. The mental aspect is very powerful and has been proven in many studies when placebo's are used. However a lot of people puffing away on fags in the 1950's were not worrying about lung cancer but they still got it in later years.

I was cycling down doi suthip at about 20:00 this evening and as I neared the bottom the air apart from feeling oven hot compared to higher up, the air was sweaty and I could feel the moisture in it. Not very scientific but my own feeling matches up with those insects appearing, some rain is due.

[puukao]

can....not....breathe......must......seek......clean......air........to..........live........30 baht street food......not......worth it......

[T_Dog]

http://www.chiangraitimes.com/choking-haze-in-chiang-rai-may-last-until-the-end-of-april.html

CHIANG RAI – Dr. Anond Snidvongs, Executive Director of the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency has warned Thai Authorities that the haze in Northern Thailand may last till end of April unless fire hotspots across the border are put under control.

Dr. Snidvongs, warning comes after remote sensing images released by the National Park, wildlife and Plant Conservation Department Wednesday detected clusters of hotspots scattered in Thailand’s northern and western regions including in Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

The area with concentration of hotspots are in the north and the east of Myanmar bordering Thai border from Mae Hong Son to Tak and Prachuap Khiri Khan provinces.

Other concentration of hotspots were detected in Laos bordering Thailand’s Chiang Rai province, while in Cambodia and Vietnam the hotspots were sparse and not a concern.

But the hotspot map could not exactly identify the fire locations due to limitation of the satellite imagery.

Dr Snidvongs said the particulate measurement of PM10 in the North still exceeded the safety level by over 100 micrograms per cubic metre, while noting that in the Myanmar border the figure exceeded over 1,000.

He said forest fires in Myanmar are mostly close to Thai border and in areas controlled by minority groups and where the Myanmar government could hardly access to.

He said the haze in the morning was mostly caused by burnings by locals particularly in valleys, namely Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, and Mae Hong Son valleys.

While in the afternoon, haze came mostly from burnings across the border in Myanmar, thus worsening the haze condition, he said.

He suggested persistent and stringent effort in fighting haze, saying it should start after the rainy season last year particularly forest fires and burning in forest areas.

He said the current haze campaign was considered too late.

He also said that haze problem could not be 100% solved because most forest fires were caused by burning to prepare land for planting short lived crops such as maize.

He said it needed joint effort by all relevant agencies and effective management in making fire protection zones.

He said the haze situation in Myanmar is 5-10 times more serious than in Thailand, thus have consequences on the Thai side, same as what Singapore was affected by forest fires in Indonesia.

But he said situation in Indonesia is improving, while Thailand was affected by repeated burning from maize farming.

Interesting stuff there vivid and glad to see they are finally acknowledging that the locals are burning. The official line will always be "haze" rather than "harmful particulates" or "smog". Here is a photo a friend sent from yesterday. Setting the fires on Thai soil is still going on vigorously in the forests. If there is a ban in effect, the word does not appear to be getting out.

[chiang mai]

http://www.chiangraitimes.com/choking-haze-in-chiang-rai-may-last-until-the-end-of-april.html

He said the haze in the morning was mostly caused by burnings by locals particularly in valleys, namely Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, and Mae Hong Son valleys.

While in the afternoon, haze came mostly from burnings across the border in Myanmar, thus worsening the haze condition, he said.

The above extract rings true with me for a number of reasons but still leaves unanswered questions:

A couple of inescapable facts about the poor air quality include: crop burning in a somewhat regulated Thailand is mostly a late afternoon/evening event whereas in an almost totally uncontrolled (border/North Eastern) Myanmar it is a daytime/all day event.

The AQI numbers for CM typically show low overnight numbers that increase sharply after sunrise and don't start to fall until after noon, the early morning is therefore the most hazardous time - that pattern is not supportive of local burning being the primary cause of the pollution. However, that pattern is in keeping with 1. inbound cross border pollution, AND, 2. the effect of the inversion layer, cooler overnight air is trapped closer to the ground, trapping with it accumulated pollution; as the sun starts to warm the cooler air the pollution rises and disperses.

Finally, for the poster who believes all of this to be an imagined health problem, all I can say is wow, flat earthers really do still exist!

[evenstevens]

Interesting stuff there vivid and glad to see they are finally acknowledging that the locals are burning. The official line will always be "haze" rather than "harmful particulates" or "smog". Here is a photo a friend sent from yesterday. Setting the fires on Thai soil is still going on vigorously in the forests. If there is a ban in effect, the word does not appear to be getting out.

Fire up.jpg

good morning to all

t-dogs pic is worth its weight in gold

to all u armchair experts and . number crunching drongos

the hill in the pic can be lit up within 30 to 45 mins by two men (govt controlled ) one has a cannister of fuel with a long spout in which he leads the way dropping the fuel in a line whilst transversing the hill, the second man is approx 50 meteres behind lighting up the line of dropped fuel..,when completed, all lines of fuel burning, link up to each other

BINGO..the hill is a furnace with in the hour. i have seen this operation, no more then 250 meters from my property several yrs ago, its no place for the faint hearted when so close

the following year across the valley my neighbour whose house is perched on a high hill. they lit up the surroundings of his hill, a windshift came, and within minutes he is desperately working to save his house, they do these dirty deeds after sunset

presently in my neck of the woods beverly hills ,mae rim they are playing cunning games, ,areas of large proportion,which were usually light up in one go,are now be done in small proportions, over a period of time, to escape the full velocity of their burnings,and always done at night

earlier in the week i saw a lorry load of soldiers turn off , into a rough dirt track, you guessed it,

that area was ablaze with in minutes

you can run all your mumbo jumbo figures, and evaluations, plus assumptions but northern thailand has a crisisis on its hand , of its OWN DOING

the above true observations, is just a dot of a dot, to what is going on the north,and straight from the horses mouth

[T_Dog]

Evenstevens... I have heard rumors of the army doing that, but have not personally witnessed it. What I have seen are locals going up to torch the forests for mushrooms. Up in Mae Taeng right now, they are out trying to get 100% coverage so they are indeed going back up to light more fires. If the government is setting the fires, that would indeed be a travesty.

[Tywais]

Current fire map, March 21, 2015 8:35AM

[T_Dog]

Current fire map, March 21, 2015 8:35AM

Fire March 21 2015.JPG

Wonder what it would look like if not for the burning ban?

[Tywais]

Current fire map, March 21, 2015 8:35AM

Fire March 21 2015.JPG

Wonder what it would look like if not for the burning ban?