Chiang Rai air quality map

Can air pollution maps in Chiang Mai show you how clean the air is?

Air pollution and air quality maps help determine how safe to breathe and clean the air is on any given day, along with forecasts on accompanying pages also indicating how badly polluted (or clean) the air quality is over the following days. The air quality maps will display the US AQI readings to you, along with a color-coded figure that can be used to determine how polluted the air is at first glance (with the best air quality levels coming in with lighter colors such as blue and green, and red, purple and maroon indicating higher through to severe levels of air pollution).

With current readings taken as of late March in 2022, it can be seen that Chiang Mai is experiencing much higher levels of air pollution, with the US AQI figures being over 150, placing the city into the 'unhealthy' air quality rating bracket. With the air quality map available, one can keep up to date on the pollution levels throughout Chiang Mai as well as adjacent cities and nearby areas. Some parts of the city may have significantly less air pollution levels, due to many different factors. These include meteorological ones such as rain or stronger winds (with the wind being one of the most effective removers of air pollution within any given area, and although rain is less effective, it can still assist in tamping down larger particles. In closing, the air quality maps and air pollution maps can show you how clean, or polluted the air is at any given time, with numerous readings coming in from a multitude of stations and other air quality recording facilities, which are then calibrated to give accurate readings and then shown on the air quality map accordingly. Utilizing the air pollution map can help you to keep your pollution exposure to a minimum, especially in the northern region across Thailand during certain times of the year, when significant clouds of smoke, haze and hazardous particulate matter can make an appearance, due to open burn farming practices taking place within the country, as well as drifting in from other countries such as Myanmar, where similar open burning practices are also taking place.

Do air quality maps display the types of pollutants in Chiang Mai?

Air quality maps can help you to get a better understanding of the types of pollution that you are breathing. Whilst pollution at any level is something that you will always want to avoid, there are certain pollutants out there that can prove to be far more harmful to people, especially those with a vulnerable disposition, which will be covered in further detail in the following question. When the air pollution maps show any given level of US AQI, it is important to know that the US AQI figure is aggregated from several main pollutants that are typically found in the air worldwide, hence why they are used to form the universal air quality index (albeit adhering to the standards meted out by the United States, which is considerably more stringent than air pollution ratings in other countries, hence it is used prevalently due to the strictness of its classification standards).

The air pollutants that show up on the air quality maps in the form of US AQI are carbon monoxide, and ozone (more commonly referred to as smog when it gathers in large enough accumulations, quite visible in certain areas during the hotter months of the year, particularly over busy roads and motorways). Others include sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide, both of which are released prominently by vehicles, although they do find their release from a majority of combustion sources. However, due to how prominently they are released from all manner of vehicles, higher quantities of these may be seen over areas that have a high level of traffic. This is when air pollution maps in Chiang Mai can be useful in identifying whether you are presently using highly polluted routes daily, which can highlight the fact that certain preventative measures such as wearing fine particle filtering masks (as well as avoiding these areas if possible, although sometimes this is of course not entirely feasible).

Other forms of pollution that are shown on air quality maps in Chiang Mai, due to figuring largely into the US AQI readings, are the two forms of particulate matter, PM2.5 and PM10. Due to the minute size of PM2.5, it can cause a great number of health issues amongst the population in Chiang Mai, and many other cities in Thailand. Once again, whilst air pollution maps and air quality maps do not show every single pollutant throughout the entire spectrum (as there is a huge variety, although they can sometimes be categorized into sub-groups such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), or as mentioned the two forms of particle-based pollution), they can give a good idea of what types of pollution you are facing, with higher US AQI readings across the air pollution maps containing a significant amount of all of the above-mentioned forms of air pollution. For more in-depth details on the volume of the different forms of pollution found in a given city, the city pages on the IQAir website have graphs that show the volume of the different main pollutants, both hourly, as well as daily in Chiang Mai.

Can air quality maps in Chiang Mai show you when the air may make you sick from pollution exposure?

Air quality maps are highly effective in determining at what time of the year one will be most at risk to pollution-based health issues. Due to the air quality and air pollution maps indicating the levels of US AQI, as well as other airborne pollutants being displayed on the city pages present throughout the IQAir website. When high levels of pollution are shown on the air quality maps in Chiang Mai, health issues such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may present themselves, along with dry coughs, and infections to the respiratory tract. Following the air pollution maps closely can help one determine which areas of Chiang Mai are more polluted, and they can be subsequently avoided which can aid greatly in not only reducing health issues but potentially stopping them outright.

Which groups of people can benefit the most from air pollution maps in Chiang Mai?

Whilst everyone in Chiang Mai can benefit from the use of air quality maps, certain demographics within the city are considerably more at risk, due to a number of reasons. Those who can and should keep their pollution exposure levels to an absolute minimum include those with pre-existing health conditions, as well as those with compromised immune systems, the elderly, along with young children and babies. Air pollution maps in Chiang Mai can assist in keeping these groups of people considerably safer due to the hourly updates showing when the air quality reaches unsafe levels, and when it drops to cleaner and safer to breathe levels.