What's up with the Air Quality Index?

[luther]

In Mae Rim the view of the mountains is noticeably clearer than any day during the last week.

 

AT this website

http://aqicn.org/city/chiang-mai/

http://aqicn.org/city/thailand/chiangmai/city-hall/

 

Inside the moat...the 7:00 AM reading was in the low 30's. An hour later the reading is up 60 points.

City Hall 7:00 AM = low 90's. An hour later up 60 points.

 

Meanwhile on this site readings at 8:00 for both the similar areas are in the low 70's to 80's.

http://www.aqmthai.com/aqi.php?lang=en

 

It's never seemed this out of whack before.

[lordblackader]

From Chang Klan the sky is crystal clear, can even see the mountains to the East clearly let alone Doi Suthep making me think the website is designed to simply deliver randomly generated numbers.

[cyberfarang]

Farlangs living in Chiang Mai are becoming paranoid about the burning season. Having lived here for quite a while myself, I can remember the smogs being so bad that the daytime sky was clouded by a yellow haze and during the dark hours I could not see my neighbour`s house through the dirty grey fog that covered the whole area, it was possible to feel and taste it in the air and in the mornings I would be coughing my lungs up.

 

But during the last 4 years I have hardly noticed the pollution at all, the situation has much improved and there has definitely been clamp downs on the burners. Where I live the locals have been warned that anyone caught burning rubbish will be fined 2000 baht and the deterrent seems to have worked. I really cannot see that this is now a major problem.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[luther]

I really cannot see that this is now a major problem.

 

It is if you want to exercise.  If you get on a treadmill or ride a bike when the air is as bad as it was last week, your heart rate will soar 40-50 bpm above its normal high.

 

Last year just after the band ended I could not see that traffic light 100 meters away.  On the Mae Rim road, the mountains disappeared for days.

[amexpat]

True, but some people hardly notice such things at all.  Others are hospitalized.

[jonwilly]

" some people hardly notice such things at all.  Others are hospitalized."

 

Very true. I am sensitive to the smog and usually a cough is the start of the Smog season form me.

Stinging eyes is second symtom.

Today I cannot see Doi Saket from my place on Doi Suthep but Doi Suthep was clear from Sk this morning.

 

john

Normally I go away to the coast but as I have booked a UK Trip I will have to suffer.

[luther]

Recently a new reading has been showing up on the map. It says it is at Chiang Mai International School. The CMIS reading is consistently 100 points higher than the City Hall reading. Right now (afternoon of March 23^rd) the City Hall number is 219. The CMIS number is 363. Obviously, the air is bad, can't see the mountains, but I wonder if anyone who works at CMIS can comment.

 

A Thai friend said they had seen a photo on Facebook of a water truck misting the area where the inner city reading is taken.