Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai – all suffering choking smog today

The whole Bangkok and its suburbs is suffering from excessive PM2.5 dust and smoke particles in the air today. Around the city the readings have been uniformly ‘unhealthy’ for the entire day with readings as high as 188 particles of 2.5microns per cubic metre.

Putting a stamp on the whole appalling situation is the list of the world’s Top 10 cities with the worst air pollution. Bangkok had the 5th worst air pollution in the world today with perennially polluted Indian cities Delhi and Mumbai not much further ahead in the readings today.Despite being a long-standing problem, Bangkok’s air pollution has only recently begun to enter the Thai public consciousness. This awareness has been sparked by some prolonged hazy spells that tested the public’s patience and pushed schools, organisations and individuals to start testing the air themselves. By January 2019, there were already more than 100 schools using air sensors. The growth in these non-governmental air monitoring stations gave more and more parents and Bangkok citizens real-time pollution data for the first time, revealing how poor the city’s air quality was.

62 air quality measurement stations in Bangkok and neighbouring provinces, including Samut Prakan, Samut Sakhon, Nonthaburi and Pathum Thani, show the health threatening levels of PM2.5, which exceed the 50 micron safety threshold. The highest level was found at Tambon Paknam in Muang district of Samut Prakan (a reading of 188).

In the eastern province of Rayong, the Pollution Control Department reports that air quality readings show the level of PM2.5 up to 174 today with nearby tourist town Pattaya sharing readings, all in the ‘unhealthy’ zone.

Further north Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Lampang all shared very bad air quality readings today as the smoke from plantation burn-offs continued to fester in local lungs and choking the blue skies with an ugly grey pall. Chiang Mai is also on the list of the Top 10 world’s worst air pollution today coming in at #8.

Statistics from Air Visual