What's up with low visibility in Thailand?
While I was in Thailand in February (Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Krabi), I noticed low visibility throughout the country. It was like smog and it never got away. When flying I noticed this "smog" was instantly gone after reaching a couple kilometers of altitude.
Is this a normal phenomenom and what causes it?
Best Answer
While I can't be sure, I think this is a case of haze due to smoke from biomass burning.
There was an episode with a lot of burning events in February and March in Northern South-East Asia (the pictures are satellite pictures where active fires are highlighted). This has been reported in the region (news article, Singapore meteorological service), and is a well-known and annually recurring problem. Most of the fires are started by farmers to clear land, or for various other reason and tend to go out of control.
It also makes sense that the smoke will stay in lower altitudes (depending on weather). Of course this could be due to some other phenomenon that I am not aware of. If it was indeed smoke, then you might have noticed a burning smell in the air. Note that this seems to be a not so bad case and that visibility can get way worse.
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