Smog in Chiang Mai hits highest level for year

[mango66]

congratulation to people promote its best live in thailand - is CM !!

Enjoy life there !!!

[Dustdevil]

Its the screaming pits some 900 km SE in Surin. Just like being in a L.A. smog bank.

We have a Clean Air Act in the U.S.

[Dustdevil]

Today, the sun's image was blocked from sunrise to 7:40 AM, the air stinks, my eyes are burning, sinuses are irritated, my eyes are sore, and my lungs hurt. I am healthy, so i can rightly assume that folks with health challenges are in jeopardy.

I have lived in LA and Mexico city, and their air pollution (with the exception of temperature inversion incidents) was not as bad as CM.

That's right. I get annoyed when people who haven't been to the US at all or in the last 25 years compare it to LA. Los Angeles is nothing like Southeast Asia and China for pollution. Get your facts straight. In the U.S. it's called the Clean Air Act and it's what cleaned up Pittsburgh.

[khwaibah]

Today, the sun's image was blocked from sunrise to 7:40 AM, the air stinks, my eyes are burning, sinuses are irritated, my eyes are sore, and my lungs hurt. I am healthy, so i can rightly assume that folks with health challenges are in jeopardy.

I have lived in LA and Mexico city, and their air pollution (with the exception of temperature inversion incidents) was not as bad as CM.

That's right. I get annoyed when people who haven't been to the US at all or in the last 25 years compare it to LA. Los Angeles is nothing like Southeast Asia and China for pollution. Get your facts straight. In the U.S. it's called the Clean Air Act and it's what cleaned up Pittsburgh.

Got your attention. The US has made serious strides on this subject as is not what it was 35 years back. Now as for Thailand I still want to see how the propaganda ministry of Thailand (TAT) puts their spin on this.

[vivid]

If by tiny particles, they mean PM10, it hit 429 yesterday at the Sala Klang monitoring station, the highest I have ever seen here. I don't think the Nation's journalists do a single bit of fact checking, they just regurgitate whatever they're told.

Yes, you are correct. Thank you for pointing that out.

http://aqmthai.com/public_report.php

Can see that for 35t on aqmthai.com, 10th of March 1000h. 429.55 ug/m3 PM10.

Unfortunately, 35t does not have PM2.5 measurements.

Highest PM2.5 was at 36t 0700h, 368 ug/m3. This is a significantly worse number in terms of AQI.

PM10 highest at 36t was 380 ug/m3 (PM10) at 1100h.

http://airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=resources.conc_aqi_calc

I know it's for 24-hr averaged figures, not 1hr. But if you key it in, 429 ug/m3 PM10 = AQI 301.

368 ug/m3 PM2.5 = AQI 413.

This highlights the much more dangerous nature of PM2.5 at the same concentration.

Edited March 11, 2015 by vivid

[Furfoxsake]

Arrived in Chiang Saen yesterday afternoon around 3pm and could just about see across the Mekong river to Laos, which is probably less than 100 yards wide there, you could just about make out the land on the other side, this morning the sun was obscured until about 10am before it finally broke through to be a hazy ball, made it very sweaty for sure

[DinoSabanovic]

It's only little problem and tourists are pouring in like never before!

[TomYumpoochai]

I was laughed at by the airhead in the shop next door when i told her her mothers wheezing and coughing was caused by the smog in fang. I left.

It was thick all the way down the 107 and didnt ease up until tak. Then when i hit the 9 it was fires all along the highway.

[jaideecm]

I am staying at Mae Klang Luang bungalows in Doi Inthanon National Park. Air is clean, clear and cold at night. Been hiking and birdwatching since Monday. Going back to Chiang Mai city today. If the smog is that bad I will return to the park.

[vivid]

I am staying at Mae Klang Luang bungalows in Doi Inthanon National Park. Air is clean, clear and cold at night. Been hiking and birdwatching since Monday. Going back to Chiang Mai city today. If the smog is that bad I will return to the park.

PM2.5 (not the widely reported PM10 in the media) is 139 ug/m3 now, just 11 ug/m3 shy of Very Unhealthy levels. Should be just tolerable for most healthy people.

Still too high for infants/toddlers/elderly/those with health issues.

[vivid]

I found that station 58t recorded a PM10 446 ug/m3 peak on Wednesday. Today's peak was PM10 388 ug/m3. Very very high levels.

On 6th March, it spiked to a PM10 concentration of 660ug/m3.

PM10 of 660ug/m3 is actually out of range for AQI (604ug/m3 is AQI 500)

Edited March 13, 2015 by vivid

[DLock]

This happens every year. It will never change. The Government has zero clue on how to solve this. It's too big a problem for them.

We have learny time and time again, the only way to get action from the Thai government is to embarrass them, to let the world see how bad Chiang Mai (and Thailand by perception) are and do not come here. Cancel holiday plans.

The love of saving face is a distant second to the love of money, but they can be connected if we use social media to make the messages go viral or appear in the tourism sections of Western media.

That's the only thing that spurs action in this country.

No use complaining internally. They just hide, have meetings and send a rain making plane up once a month.