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Bangkok woke up to some pretty hazy air this morning, with the city's Air Quality Information Centre reporting that 20 areas have hit the orange level for PM2.5 pollution as of 7am on Monday.
The overall reading across Bangkok sits at 36.5 µg/m³, which is just under the 37.5 µg/m³ standard and puts the capital's air quality in the moderate range. Not ideal, but not terrible either.
If you're wondering which parts of town are getting the worst of it, here's what the monitors are showing right now.
Top 12 PM2.5 readings by district
- Pathum Wan – 49.9 µg/m³
- Bang Rak – 46.3 µg/m³
- Chatuchak – 44.1 µg/m³
- Sathon – 43.2 µg/m³
- Prawet – 42.8 µg/m³
- Lat Krabang – 42.1 µg/m³
- Ratchathewi – 42.0 µg/m³
- Bang Sue – 41.2 µg/m³
- Bang Kho Laem – 40.8 µg/m³
- Nong Khaem – 40.1 µg/m³
- Pom Prap Sattru Phai – 39.9 µg/m³
- Thawi Watthana – 39.9 µg/m³
Pathum Wan is leading the pack with the highest concentration, so if you're in the Siam area, you might want to keep those N95 masks handy.
Forecast for the week ahead
Unfortunately, things aren't looking much better in the short term. The centre reckons dust particles will continue building up until January 16, with ventilation staying poor and the atmosphere near ground level essentially ‘closed’. That means PM2.5 concentrations are likely to accumulate over the next few days.
There's a glimmer of hope from January 17 onwards though. Southerly winds from the Gulf of Thailand might help clear things out a bit, even if ventilation remains weak. Today should be cool with some light morning fog thrown in for good measure.
On the plus side, NASA satellite data shows no abnormal heat detected in the Bangkok area, so at least we're not dealing with nearby fires making things worse.