Chiang Mai, Lampang hit with unhealthy levels of PM2.5 again
The Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department on Monday warned residents of Chiang Mai and Lampang in the North to brace themselves for high PM2.5 pollution levels.
According to the department, people in Chiang Mai’s Muang district and Lampang’s Muang and Mae Mo districts are most at risk.
As per the air4thai.pcd.go.th website, the air quality in these three districts has entered the orange level, which means people will start getting ill if exposed to the pollution for three consecutive days.
However, shortly after the department issued the warning, the PM2.5 level in the three districts dropped to yellow or moderate quality.
The website reported that PM2.5 readings in Chiang Mai’s Muang district and Lampang’s Muang and Mae Mo districts came in at 50, 45 and 41 micrograms per cubic metre of air (μg/m3) respectively at noon on Monday.
Thailand has set the safe level of PM2.5 at 50 μg/m3, while the World Health Organisation has set it at 25 μg/m3. PM2.5 refers to particles of dust that are less than 2.5 micrometres in diameter or more than 100 times thinner than human hair and can remain suspended in the air for longer periods.
Separately, the department also warned residents of 52 provinces in the North, Northeast and Central regions to brace themselves for thunderstorms on Monday as predicted by the Meteorological Department.
The Meteorological Department said on Sunday that a high-pressure mass, which causes low temperatures, will crash with high temperatures in the three regions, resulting in strong winds, heavy rains and possible hail.
