If you live in Bangkok, the hazy months are close, and City Hall expects them to be tougher than last year. In a series of announcements between 10 and 12 November 2026, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) set out how its hospitals, health centres, schools and traffic rules will respond to fine-dust (PM2.5) pollution over the 2026-27 dry season. The BMA cites a Public Health Ministry warning that a strong El Niño could make PM2.5 worse than in previous years, especially from November to May. That is a forecast, not a certainty.
Where to get help if the air turns bad
The BMA Medical Department says air pollution clinics are open at eight BMA-run hospitals, offering checks, treatment and specialist advice. On the city's Greener Bangkok site, the clinics are listed as free consultations, with set days and hours that differ by hospital, so check before you go. Patients with long-term conditions can also see a doctor online through the BMA's Mor BKK app on red-level days, with medicines sent by post or rider. The department's 24-hour health hotline is 1646.
The BMA Health Department says it delivered more than 2,000,000 adult and child masks to all 50 district offices in early November, for handing out when PM2.5 exceeds the standard. Its 69 public health centres will send mobile teams into communities when readings stay between 37.6 and 75 micrograms per cubic metre for three days in a row, or above 75 for two days.
What parents should know
BMA schools will check air quality through AirBKK (airbkk.com) and raise a colour-coded flag three times a day in the cool season, at 07:00, 11:00 and 17:00. On high-dust days, outdoor activities stop and every school must have a dust-free safe zone for vulnerable pupils. If orange or red conditions keep getting worse, closures can be ordered: up to 3 days by a school director, up to 7 days by a district director, up to 15 days by the Education Department when two to five districts are hit, and without a fixed limit by the Governor when more than five districts are affected. Lessons are then made up later or moved online. These rules cover BMA-run schools; private and international schools set their own policies.
Trucks and burning
Governor Chadchart Sittipunt said on 11 November that the city will use a new advanced monitoring station, supplied with help from China, to forecast dust more precisely. The Green List scheme is being extended to four-wheel commercial vehicles, and vehicles that do not meet the standard will be kept out of designated areas on high-dust days. Truck operators register at greenlist.bangkok.go.th, and the BMA's low-emission zone period runs from 22 October 2026 to 31 March 2027. The city is also working with neighbouring provinces to curb the burning of crop waste.
For more on how Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Phuket compare, see MEM's guide to air pollution in Thailand.