Ha yes, typo but…
Lol it seems like this topic was on sabbatical for some 6 months, then has to get back to work mid-October.
That’s because there was nothing to talk about the last few months (don’t know about 6). I checked all summer. The air was “good” just about every day, with some days reaching way, way down to surprising levels. Check it out today:
The AQI is at 11 in Songshan.
Just because they write ‘good’ doesn’t mean it is good, especially at street level or local areas, the pollution indices can go off the chart and it’s extremely unhealthy to stand at the side of a busy roadside or cycle a bike through that kind of traffic.
Taipei is fortunate compared to much of the island because of the frequent rain and over the last couple of months I suspect the air has been cleaner than usual because of the typhoons. Interestingly typhoons could have a strong positive effect on health.
I check the air pollution levels regularly and spring and summer had many days of ‘not good’ in Taipei …let’s put it that way. I’ve had to close my window at night sometimes because I’ve smelled the polluted air coming through.
Taichung and central Taiwan has had very bad air pollution this week and also episodes through the summer. Wintertime is the worst time of year for air pollution because you get inversion in the sunny centre and south along with less rain and then mix it with the stuff blown over from China.
Overall pollution down, PM 2.5 up. 
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2016/11/10/2003658966
Where was the mysterious increase in construction supposed to be?
Usual misleading bollocks from the Environmental Rejection Administration…
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I suggest that all EPA officials living in Taichung City walk to a window right now (11:55 PM), open it, look at the apocalyptic haze and take a deep breath. That’s coal smoke you smell, idiots.
Oh, my mistake, it must have been all the “construction” in the city today.
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The new index is separated into six levels, with green being the lowest at zero to 50 micrograms per cubic meter of air (mcg/m3) per hour, yellow representing normal levels at 51 to 100mcg/m3 per hour, orange representing unhealthy for sensitive groups at 101 to 150mcg/m3 per hour, red representing unhealthy levels for all at 150 to 200mcg/m3 per hour, purple representing very unhealthy at 201 to 300mcg/m3 per hour and maroon, at 301 to 500mcg/m3 per hour, considered hazardous, the agency said.
The most severe of all five kinds of pollutants would be selected to represent that day’s pollutant level, it said.
According to the new scale, the previously “purple” levels of PM2.5 would now be considered red, it said, adding that this was not a relaxation of standards, but rather the use an index that highlights the dangers of pollutants aside from PM2.5.
So by this logic does that mean that Central London is sitting at around 5 - 10 cigarettes? And our idiots in charge want to ban outdoor smoking as if that will change the amount of emissions going into our lungs.
Large parts of China are on ‘Red Alert’ at the moment. Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei province, surged beyond 1000
The next time they have a pollution conference, it would be good to do it there - so people can understand just how dire the situation has become.
I don’t blame China especially - they are just the factory zone for the world and still far below the per capita pollution levels of most western countries … but … it’s a very small world, and we are ruining it
^Frankly I don’t see the point if worrying about China’s pollution when the air south of Taichung has been fucking disgusting for days.
Weird day in Danshui. The skies had been lovely and clear for a few days (for winter that’s already weird!), and the day began like that here. AQI around 38. Then at lunch time this brown fog / mist / muck rapidly came in (off the ocean? up the strait?) and covered the town - now we’re at AQI 159. One minute my window was gorgeous blue skies, and within about ten minutes the brown muck had overtaken everything. I guess the smog that’s been persistently south of Taipei suddenly swept north?
The pollution is (sadly) nothing new, but I’ve never seen a mass of it roll in like that before.
I was up on Qixingshan today… I took this photo looking towards Luzhou/Sanchong… You can quite clearly see the smog rolling in from the northwest.
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Yeah, that looks about right. The front line of that smog rolled through Danshui a little before noon. Ugh. I think I could even taste the change, although maybe that was in my head.
Still, the past week has been gorgeous in Taipei, so I guess we should be happy about that. Perfect summer weather, not like the foolishly hot summer weather we typically get here.
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If you lived on a hill overlooking Taichung like I did you would every winter.
And yes it does feel apocalyptic. The mass of crap does really just come rolling over you. Has to be seen AND smelt to be believed!
Edit: here it is fortunately not including smellyvision.
Ah memories.
Click to view
How do we link this up with the truly dangerous particles–the stuff we can’t see or presumably smell?
Guy
Definitely an eerie feel with the smog rolling over the city yesterday
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When I’m on a computer I usually go to this website:
As best I can tell, the “PM2.5” is the especially dangerous stuff. It’s often but not always together with the more visible pollution. Yesterday the PM2.5 count was higher (worse) than the PM10.
My long-standing question is when going out for a bike ride or even a walk becomes unhealthy. When does the pollution outweigh the benefits of a little exercise? AQI 50? AQI 100? AQI 150? This article talks about that a bit, but pretty much comes down to “Don’t push yourself when it’s polluted”:
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What’s going on recently with air pollution/weather in Taiwan? Do we really have to go to Kenting to see some nice blue sky and sun? It has been a while now when the pollution is horrible. I don’t remember that long periods of time with that bad pollution since I moved here 4 years ago. Is it China to blame or are we doing it to ourselves?