Chiang Mai Travel Forum

Hello

I have reserved tickets to Chiang Mai during my trip to Thailand as one stop, but I've heard that due to the recent continuing forest fires (or are they an every year thing, dunno) there is smog gathering already and it can be hazardous.

Any factual info on the situation currently in there?

Thank you

The air quality in Chiang Mai is terible, and will remain terrible until the start of the rainy season in mid-April (Songkran/Thai New Year).

The biggest single cause of the hazardous air is the seasonal burning of agriculutural fields.

I LOVE Chiang Mai, however I advise anyone with BREATHING PROBLEMS to visit the city between mid-April and mid-February.

Most of Chiang Mai's air-pollution problem is confined to Chiang Mai City, get out into the countryside, no problems. Compare that to Bangkok!

It's a regional problem, affecting ALL of Northern Thailand: Mae Hon Son, Chiang Lai, Lampang, >>>

The 'slash and burn' farming method is also a common practice in neighboring Burma and Southern China.

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The health problem is mainly a result of the high levels of PM-10 (less than 10 microns in diameter in a cubic meter of air).

The Thai Pollution Control Department has set the 'safe level' for PM-10 as anything below 120. In contrast the EU and the US considers it a serious polution problem if it exceeds 50.

We've had several days this season with it exceeding 100, and March typically has higher levels than February.

14 March 2007, the PM-10 level in Chaing Mai reached 304.