Horror. What happened???
It’s always the same:
Stuff coming from China does not look like this from its distribution (unless there were a direct pipe from China to the center of Taipei surpassing Tamsui, Bali etc.). This must be Taipei made
Stuff comes and collects in areas with low wind, less space to disperse. Taipei is surrounded by hills.
Leeward vortex.
They’re busy manufacturing now:
Click this, select 12 hours and play.
Looks bad, too bad I have to go to Taipei for meetings tomorrow. Here in Kaohsuing it was a nice dry clear day (but we need rain !)
Looks like another dump - pollution, not snow I’m sorry - coming in around lunch time. Get your N95s out party people.
It’s a good point but a fair amount of that is local pollution as well that’s being pushed to the mountains.
We see this phenonkeonon happening all the way down the West coast right down to Pingdong , it’s why Nantou’s Puli can still have bad air quality.
Another basin, right?
Guy
Mostly from the combustion of fossil fuels.
The basin makes the city prone to thermal inversion when a warm front passes. So the pollution gets trapped in the city and doesn’t rise due to cooler air near the ground.
The difference between Thursday and Friday morning out along the Dahan River Valley at Yingge was huge. Thursday a clear view of the mountains to the SE between Sanxia and Yilan and all the way back to 101 was great. Today, couldnt even see the University Buildings at Sanxia - about 2km away.
Inversion would have a lot to do with it, no doubt helped by what has drifted across from the PRC, and of course a share from Car and Scooter exhaust pipes. Some wind and rain should fix it.
Today was nice out&about yang ming shan, but I noticed a weather segment at dinner detail a high pressure over central China, did not get the closest look, but it looks like the front is coming our way.
On the plus side, humidity should drop with the higher pressure, so masks will be a touch more comfortable. My earth science teacher would be proud 
in Tamsui, air is bad today. stepped outside and could just smell it. well, there goes my daily walk. at one point I guess the AICQ was 70+ now it’s in the 50s.
I am also very focused on air quality. But I can assure you that 70 will not kill you for a few hours. Get worried when it is 130+
Could also just be fog, but I of course do not know. AQI is generally ok
It’s not fog. It’s smog.
Correction: It is now elevated in the center of Taipei. So I conclude there is bad air, but diluted in Tamsui because of the wind