Smoke, Smog, Dust 2016-2017 Chiang Mai

[ammagic]

After a decade in C M gave up & moved to Hua Hin. More expensive but my lungs are so happy!

[puukao]

On 1/3/2017 at 7:18 PM, ammagic said:

After a decade in C M gave up & moved to Hua Hin. More expensive but my lungs are so happy!

 

Happiness not allowed on TV!!!  Good rain today in CM, but I think I am now allergic to rain!!!  lol.  allergies drive me crazy.

 

glad you moved, you might have just saved your life.  :)  

[Mousehound]

 

I think you can get these from most 7/11s in CM now.  So problem solvered.

[user555]

Does anyone know which other regions in South East Asia, besides North Thailand suffer from burnings in this time of year? Thanks! 

[BernieOnTour]

8 hours ago, user555 said:

Does anyone know which other regions in South East Asia, besides North Thailand suffer from burnings in this time of year? Thanks! 

From own experience: Indonesia -Sumatra island-. So, as a result, Singapore and the lower western Malay peninsula might be effected (depending on the wind direction).

[user555]

5 minutes ago, BernieOnTour said:

From own experience: Indonesia -Sumatra island-. So, as a result, Singapore and the lower western Malay peninsula might be effected (depending on the wind direction).

What about Vietnam? What about South Thailand?  

[BernieOnTour]

19 hours ago, user555 said:

What about Vietnam? What about South Thailand?  

The infamous 2015 haze also effected those, but afaik, to lower extent. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Southeast_Asian_haze

2015, I couldn't stand it anymore in Singapore and fled over the weekend to Phuket, no matter the flight prices - there it was quite acceptable.

 

General overview here:

http://aqicn.org/map/

 

[BernieOnTour]

btw. :

Similar to Indonesia, where the huge paper pulp productions are the real reason for the fires, subsidence farming by hill tribes is only a minor reason for the haze in Northern Thailand, it's the big plantations.

 

even Bangkok Post dared to report about this, eg. http://www.bangkokpost.com/print/524111/

[Cheesekraft]

its about that time again, anyone have any quality / value air purifier recommendations?

[cerox]

About 10 days I woke up during the night and could not breathe, I fainted for a few seconds, this two times during the night and in the emergency room they checked my lungs with an X-Ray and said everything is fine, just my muscles are tensed around the shoulder.

 

I got better but about 5 days ago I have a strange feeling in the upper part of the stomach (the soft part below the chest). It now feels that I cannot breathe deeply and I got dizzy a few times.

 

Looking out of my window I do not see any burning etc. - I have been in Chiang Mai for a total of 9.5 months now.

 

My breating gets better as soon as I close the windows and turn in my air conditioning unit.

 

Has anybody here experienced similar things? Any advice would be appreciated :)

 

I cannot leave Chiang Mai for the time being, for several reasons, so this option is unfortunately out.

 

I read people here say that I need a special filter for my air conditioning unit and some kind of purifier.

 

I wear the N95 outside when riding the bike.

[cerox]

I read a lot of the posts of the old smog threads here in the Forum now.

 

Today I got the Filtrate filter from the 3M shop and equipped my air conditioning units with it, having all the windows closed.

 

So far I have not read much about symptoms from other people, just about the health concerns and precautions.

 

As far as I understand the air purifier would be nice because it kind of measures the air quality and displays it with an according colour.  Because now it is just guessing that I must have good air quality in my room :)

[markcm19]

Air is pretty bad, is it too early for n95 masks?any recommendations for air purifiers ?

[jonwilly]

On 1/16/2017 at 9:47 AM, user555 said:

Does anyone know which other regions in South East Asia, besides North Thailand suffer from burnings in this time of year? Thanks! 

Pratchup Kiri Kan is luvvly and clear during our March burning. Been twice in last 3 years.

 

john

[Sparkles]

On ‎1‎/‎18‎/‎2017 at 8:50 PM, cerox said:

About 10 days I woke up during the night and could not breathe, I fainted for a few seconds, this two times during the night and in the emergency room they checked my lungs with an X-Ray and said everything is fine, just my muscles are tensed around the shoulder.

 

I got better but about 5 days ago I have a strange feeling in the upper part of the stomach (the soft part below the chest). It now feels that I cannot breathe deeply and I got dizzy a few times.

 

Looking out of my window I do not see any burning etc. - I have been in Chiang Mai for a total of 9.5 months now.

 

My breating gets better as soon as I close the windows and turn in my air conditioning unit.

 

Has anybody here experienced similar things? Any advice would be appreciated :)

 

I cannot leave Chiang Mai for the time being, for several reasons, so this option is unfortunately out.

 

I read people here say that I need a special filter for my air conditioning unit and some kind of purifier.

 

I wear the N95 outside when riding the bike.

Cerox Your condition is totally out of order,burning has not even started in earnest yet,just the old spot fire.You can hardly lock your self indoors for a couple of months.

[Sparkles]

On ‎1‎/‎16‎/‎2017 at 9:47 AM, user555 said:

Does anyone know which other regions in South East Asia, besides North Thailand suffer from burnings in this time of year? Thanks! 

Not only Northern Thailand.Anywhere nth of Bangkok suffers.Last season we did a 1,400 km trip to Petchabun and back at no stage could you see more than half a Km.

Best get to the coast ,cheap accom at Bangsaphan in Prachuap Kirri Khan, our hide away, although they are recovering from flooding but should be ok.

[BernieOnTour]

.

On Wednesday, January 18, 2017 at 8:50 PM, cerox said:

About 10 days I woke up during the night and could not breathe, I fainted for a few seconds, this two times during the night and in the emergency room they checked my lungs with an X-Ray and said everything is fine, just my muscles are tensed around the shoulder.

 

I got better but about 5 days ago I have a strange feeling in the upper part of the stomach (the soft part below the chest). It now feels that I cannot breathe deeply and I got dizzy a few times.

 

Looking out of my window I do not see any burning etc. - I have been in Chiang Mai for a total of 9.5 months now.

 

My breating gets better as soon as I close the windows and turn in my air conditioning unit.

 

Has anybody here experienced similar things? Any advice would be appreciated :)

 

I cannot leave Chiang Mai for the time being, for several reasons, so this option is unfortunately out.

 

I read people here say that I need a special filter for my air conditioning unit and some kind of purifier.

 

I wear the N95 outside when riding the bike.

Maybe, you might have another problem than PM10 particles from burning.

 

According to the

Air4Thai app

we had in the last few days reduced air quality due to increased Ozone levels.

[user555]

Is it true that the government is taking significant steps to prevent burnings this year? 

[elephant45]

Here we go again, early Feb 1st ......Low visibility, coughing, phlegm,  but it seems to be OK for the locals, not for me.

[markcm19]

Already pretty bad. Even gf noticed low visibility

[jonwilly]

Went to the toilet around midnight and smelled smoke.

All clear this morning, but later when having breakfast the view to Doi Suthep was hazy. Several other customers made comments.

1st Feb and we are Kicking Off already.

 

john

[nlimwa]

hello

I was told by my Thai uncle that a 60 day burning ban is now in effect for the whole Chiang Mai province. With 100,000b penalty if caught, and 5000b reward for those calling the hotline and leading to an arrest. 

 

Sounds like they are getting more serious, however I still see plumes of smoke over Hang Dong most days? 

I cannot find anything on this ban - has anyone heard about it? Or where I can find details?

 

Thanks

Edited February 10, 2017 by nlimwa

[Berkshire]

On 1/31/2017 at 4:51 PM, elephant45 said:

Here we go again, early Feb 1st ......Low visibility, coughing, phlegm,  but it seems to be OK for the locals, not for me.

"OK for the locals"....??  Not sure where you got that idea.  It's not ok for anybody. 

[markcm19]

Can.hardly see the mountains but apparently the pm levels are still safe

[Awk]

2 hours ago, markcm19 said:

Can.hardly see the mountains but apparently the pm levels are still safe

Below is a graph based on the data from the governments excellent aqmthai site using pm2.5 values from station 36, which is in the city as far as I remember.  The graph shows the hour by hour pm2.5 levels for each day.

 

As can be seen, compared to the start of January till today, the pm2.5 levels are steadily increasing.

 

I've moved my air purifiers out of storage and into the bedrooms now.  Since they don't seem to consume much power (about the same as a regular fan), I might as well start running them now.

t.pdf

[Sparkles]

On ‎2‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 8:34 AM, nlimwa said:

hello

I was told by my Thai uncle that a 60 day burning ban is now in effect for the whole Chiang Mai province. With 100,000b penalty if caught, and 5000b reward for those calling the hotline and leading to an arrest. 

 

Sounds like they are getting more serious, however I still see plumes of smoke over Hang Dong most days? 

I cannot find anything on this ban - has anyone heard about it? Or where I can find details?

 

Thanks

How ironic the "ban" is now in effect yet looking west,  from Big C  Hang Dong this morning,  the mountain range has disappeared.

 

They talked about bans and fines last year,the year before that etc,nothing happened.

 

Until they start actually doing, what they annually threaten to do, nothing will change.

 

 

[elephant45]

I drove up in the mountains near Chae Son National Park in Lampang a few days ago and it was a lot clearer up there. Saw many small farmers burning piles of anything and everything everywhere en route, absolutely no enforcement whatsoever. So most of this crap is from cars and trucks, construction sites, sawing burning piles of trash,  and locals burning stuff. I have seen the local government (I better not mention who) burning piles of trash and a park burning all their trash also. So most of the locals don't give a hoot. They just don't get it. What gets on my nerves is these diesel fume black smoke belching trucks that are everywhere. This will never change, we have to change location; that's he only answer.

[elephant45]

Berkshire, its the locals who are doing this not the expats who live here. That's what I mean. An you are correct it isn't good for them but why do they continue to do it more and more?

[Berkshire]

43 minutes ago, elephant45 said:

Berkshire, its the locals who are doing this not the expats who live here. That's what I mean. An you are correct it isn't good for them but why do they continue to do it more and more?

A tiny portion of locals are doing the burning.  The vast majority hate it but are powerless to do anything about it.  How can that be you ask?  Well in America, the majority of us hate gun violence, corrupt politicians, inequality, D. Trump, etc., but are powerless to do anything about it.  It's like that.

[elephant45]

I can see you are looking for an argument..see ya later and please don't respond to me anymore, thank you.

[jonwilly]

Yesterday I could not see the mountain from Sausage King, while I could view it every day since the last rain.

No one from CM Uni has mentioned the report from there published last year and written up on here about the burning.

Why Not ?

 

john