Great sunsets - one of several wet season bonuses (image - Phineas H CC)My original Thorntree sticky wet weather thread was written last century. With the benefit of several extra trips, more exposure to the weather worries of potential visitors and lots more weather information from other posters, I reckon I can improve it a bit.
GO!
Let me say at the outset that the wet season is no reason for not traveling Thailand. You would be extremely unlucky to have rain ruin your trip. More than a few travelers say it is an excellent time to visit. Some say it is the best time.
WHEN IS THE WET SEASON?
Typically the wet season begins sometime in late April-early May and tails off in mid-late November.
The main exception is in the southern Gulf area (Samui and neighbors) where the wettest period is usually October into early January. Note the southern Gulf also often gets a blip of wettness in May, but this is not normally as marked as Oct thru most of Dec.
OTHER REGIONAL VARIATIONS
- the central Gulf (Ko Samet, Pattya) tends to be drier mid-year than most areas.
- the eastern Gulf (big Ko Chang and neighbors) tends to be wetter than most areas. Also - statistical and anecdotal evidence indicates its wet season tends to end earlier - November is drier than most other coastal areas.
- the Andaman coast has a roughly similar wet season from the Malaysian border thru to Phuket, but then gets wetter northwards so that the Ranong area islands up near Burma (Ko Phayam and little Ko Chang) average almost as much as the eastern Gulf.
- inland areas generally are drier and tend to have a later start and earlier finish to the rainy period heading north.
CONSTANT RAIN OR WILL I GET SUNSHINE?
A typical wet season day has one or a few showers or storms, usually of short duration, separated by periods of sunshine/scattered cloud.
Fully overcast periods do occur, but because it is hot, can be great for the beach. Note you can sun-burn badly in such conditions unless the overcast is really thick. Prolonged fully overcast periods lasting several days are not all that common.
At least 30% of shower/storms are at night - if this is the only shower/storm that day, you are laughing.
Prolonged bad weather periods are rare, but can happen - from anecdotal reports, most often in Sept/Oct on the Andaman Coast and Oct/Nov in the southern Gulf. In such periods it can be extremely windy, with big seas and many boats staying in port.
All wet season months have several days with NO rain. Check my stats later and links like travelfish http://www.travelfish.org/weather_fish.phpfor this. Sometimes you can get 3 or more days consecutively without rain, sometimes with little cloud. I got more than a week of the latter in my first November visit to Samui - November is supposed to be the worst month there.
DON’T BE MISLEAD BY THOSE WEATHER FORECASTS
A typical wet season weather forecast can show a week of “Thunderstorms”. Don’t freak:
- check the small print for “chance of rain”. 50% means there is as much chance it WON’T RAIN than WILL. 40% is even better. These figures are not unusual.
- Phuket, Samui, Chang, Lanta are big islands - if the forecaster thinks there is a chance on rain anywhere on the island he will call it. It can rain on one part and not affect you at all. I have landed on Bo Phut, Samui to a torrential downpour. When I got to Chaweng it was and continued to be bone dry. Jamie has stated frequently on his weather blog that he has seen distant showers on Phuket but it hasn’t rained at his place.
- remember that the forecast Thunderstorm may eventuate as one 20 minute affair, with the rest of the day good. There is at least a 30% chance the storm/shower may be at night.
WHAT ARE THE BONUSES OF WET SEASON TRAVEL?
Lots of vacancies, lower prices for accommodation, un-crowded transport.
Lovely cooling impact during and after a shower/storm. That special just-rained smell.
The forests and countryside gets lush and green, the waterfalls are no longer trickles, and "especially central, north and north east: nature isn't bone dry and comatose, and less dust or haze" - CHANCHAO.
Fabulous night-time electical shows.
Great cloud formations, fantastic sunsets/sunrises for photographers etc
Doesn’t get much more chilled than swinging in the hammock on your bungalow verandah with a bottle of Maekong as the drops from the late afternoon shower plop-plop off the trees onto the surrounding banana leaves.
DOWNSIDES OF WET SEASON TRAVEL
Some people don’t like the higher humidity.
Late wet season is mosquito season.
Some places close down. Note that this seems much less common now than 10 years ago. All the well visited locations seem to have plenty of places operating now. It’s also surprising how many less visited islands have at least one place open.
Some ferries shut down eg the Krabi-Jum-Lanta and the PP- Lanta. Some mainland travelers’ routes don’t run - eg as far as I know the Krabi - Khao Sok and Krabi- Khao Lak minibus services.
During the rare extended stormy/windy periods swell can get up and normal wet-season ferries/long tails can stop running. It is maybe not such a good idea to run too tight a schedule to catch that departing mainland flight.
Lots of rubbish is carted downstream by bank-full rivers and blown onto beaches during the wet season. Keen bungalow operators clean this up. Less keen don’t.
Storm water runoff can worsen diving and snorkeling visibility and can attract jellyfish in some locations.
In some areas prolonged windy periods lead to big surf/dangerous rip-currents/drownings - southern and south-western Phuket beaches and the main big Ko Chang beaches are noted dangerous areas during these periods. Be careful. I tend to look for beaches on lee shores during wet season for lack of rubbish and smooth sheltered conditons - Ko Samet, the southern Gulf islands, Ko Ngai, the chill east coast of Phi Phi are some which have these sheltered beaches.
SHOULD YOU SWITCH LOCATIONS IF A RARE PROLONGED WET PERIOD HITS?
In general, no. Prolonged bad periods are not common and the longer they last, the more chance of them ending. You move out one day and the next is great, but meanwhile you have moved into a new area and could hit another traveling wet patch.
SOME STATS AND FACTS FOR THE MORE POPULAR LOCATIONS.
Note that these statistics are averages of usually 30+ years of rainfall. So they show the trend , but that does not mean your visit will necessarily be the same. However, Thai climatic conditions tend to be more reliable than quite a few other places in the world.
CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN ANDAMAN.
Phuket, Krabi, Trang and Satun areas tend to be roughly similar. Check travelfish for variations.
The following figures are for PHUKET - monthly rain in mm, (brackets = number of days with rain each month)
JAN25mm(6 rain days) F25(5) M70(6) A125(12) M290(21) J280(20) J260(21) A270(20) S320(23) O340(23) N200(17) D60(9)
Note that I have seen several Phuket expats saying the real wet season doesn’t kick in until September and that June, July and August can be good months to visit.
Check paddleasia.com* (link at end - scroll down for the excellent weather calendar) which is the best verbal summary of mid Andaman weather I’ve seen.
Jamie”s Phuket Weather Blog** gives a good idea of conditions too.
And just about the most complete set of stats I’ve seen come from kohjumonline*** - they even list the number of really wet days for each month - over 35mm. Two thunderstorms can easily exceed 35mm, so even those days may not be write offs. Ko Jum is pretty close to Krabi, Ko Lanta and Phi Phi and so gives a good idea of those places too.
SAMUI AND NEIGBOURS
Note again the different timing of the wet season here - October into January.
J131mm(11 rain days) F56(6) M66(5) A75(8) M144(15) J109(14) J123(14) A121(15) S117(16) O304(20) N490(20) D211(14)
Anecdotally, I have noticed that this area tends to generate more poster complaints about prolonged rainy periods and prolonged heavily overcast/windy periods than others. The months concerned are Oct/Nov/Dec. However the chances of this happening are not enough to avoid the area if you definitely want to see it and can only travel at this time. It seems these real wet ones come up about in about 20-25% of the years - but not necessarily every 4th or 5th year.
Note too, I got excellent weather in my one November visit - over more than 2 weeks I think it rained three times, twice at night.
EASTERN GULF - BIG KO CHANG AND NEIGHBOURS.
J38mm(4 rain days) F76(7) M104(9) A173(13) M371(22) J902(26) J903(26) A1071(28) S635(24) O358(21) N85(9) D2O(3)
Wow, that’s wet! Seems like those nearby big Cambodian coastal ranges sure generate some orographic uplift of the wet south-west monsoon air (I threw that in for the weather nerds).
Don’t give up on Chang if the only time you can visit is wet season. I have seen posts saying wet season gets enough good weather to make holidays okay.
GO!
Let me say at the outset that the wet season is no reason for not traveling Thailand. You would be extremely unlucky to have rain ruin your trip. More than a few travelers say it is an excellent time to visit. Some say it is the best time.
WHEN IS THE WET SEASON?
Typically the wet season begins sometime in late April-early May and tails off in mid-late November.
The main exception is in the southern Gulf area (Samui and neighbors) where the wettest period is usually October into early January. Note the southern Gulf also often gets a blip of wettness in May, but this is not normally as marked as Oct thru most of Dec.
OTHER REGIONAL VARIATIONS
- the central Gulf (Ko Samet, Pattya) tends to be drier mid-year than most areas.
- the eastern Gulf (big Ko Chang and neighbors) tends to be wetter than most areas. Also - statistical and anecdotal evidence indicates its wet season tends to end earlier - November is drier than most other coastal areas.
- the Andaman coast has a roughly similar wet season from the Malaysian border thru to Phuket, but then gets wetter northwards so that the Ranong area islands up near Burma (Ko Phayam and little Ko Chang) average almost as much as the eastern Gulf.
- inland areas generally are drier and tend to have a later start and earlier finish to the rainy period heading north.
CONSTANT RAIN OR WILL I GET SUNSHINE?
A typical wet season day has one or a few showers or storms, usually of short duration, separated by periods of sunshine/scattered cloud.
Fully overcast periods do occur, but because it is hot, can be great for the beach. Note you can sun-burn badly in such conditions unless the overcast is really thick. Prolonged fully overcast periods lasting several days are not all that common.
At least 30% of shower/storms are at night - if this is the only shower/storm that day, you are laughing.
Prolonged bad weather periods are rare, but can happen - from anecdotal reports, most often in Sept/Oct on the Andaman Coast and Oct/Nov in the southern Gulf. In such periods it can be extremely windy, with big seas and many boats staying in port.
All wet season months have several days with NO rain. Check my stats later and links like travelfish http://www.travelfish.org/weather_fish.phpfor this. Sometimes you can get 3 or more days consecutively without rain, sometimes with little cloud. I got more than a week of the latter in my first November visit to Samui - November is supposed to be the worst month there.
DON’T BE MISLEAD BY THOSE WEATHER FORECASTS
A typical wet season weather forecast can show a week of “Thunderstorms”. Don’t freak:
- check the small print for “chance of rain”. 50% means there is as much chance it WON’T RAIN than WILL. 40% is even better. These figures are not unusual.
- Phuket, Samui, Chang, Lanta are big islands - if the forecaster thinks there is a chance on rain anywhere on the island he will call it. It can rain on one part and not affect you at all. I have landed on Bo Phut, Samui to a torrential downpour. When I got to Chaweng it was and continued to be bone dry. Jamie has stated frequently on his weather blog that he has seen distant showers on Phuket but it hasn’t rained at his place.
- remember that the forecast Thunderstorm may eventuate as one 20 minute affair, with the rest of the day good. There is at least a 30% chance the storm/shower may be at night.
WHAT ARE THE BONUSES OF WET SEASON TRAVEL?
Lots of vacancies, lower prices for accommodation, un-crowded transport.
Lovely cooling impact during and after a shower/storm. That special just-rained smell.
The forests and countryside gets lush and green, the waterfalls are no longer trickles, and "especially central, north and north east: nature isn't bone dry and comatose, and less dust or haze" - CHANCHAO.
Fabulous night-time electical shows.
Great cloud formations, fantastic sunsets/sunrises for photographers etc
Doesn’t get much more chilled than swinging in the hammock on your bungalow verandah with a bottle of Maekong as the drops from the late afternoon shower plop-plop off the trees onto the surrounding banana leaves.
DOWNSIDES OF WET SEASON TRAVEL
Some people don’t like the higher humidity.
Late wet season is mosquito season.
Some places close down. Note that this seems much less common now than 10 years ago. All the well visited locations seem to have plenty of places operating now. It’s also surprising how many less visited islands have at least one place open.
Some ferries shut down eg the Krabi-Jum-Lanta and the PP- Lanta. Some mainland travelers’ routes don’t run - eg as far as I know the Krabi - Khao Sok and Krabi- Khao Lak minibus services.
During the rare extended stormy/windy periods swell can get up and normal wet-season ferries/long tails can stop running. It is maybe not such a good idea to run too tight a schedule to catch that departing mainland flight.
Lots of rubbish is carted downstream by bank-full rivers and blown onto beaches during the wet season. Keen bungalow operators clean this up. Less keen don’t.
Storm water runoff can worsen diving and snorkeling visibility and can attract jellyfish in some locations.
In some areas prolonged windy periods lead to big surf/dangerous rip-currents/drownings - southern and south-western Phuket beaches and the main big Ko Chang beaches are noted dangerous areas during these periods. Be careful. I tend to look for beaches on lee shores during wet season for lack of rubbish and smooth sheltered conditons - Ko Samet, the southern Gulf islands, Ko Ngai, the chill east coast of Phi Phi are some which have these sheltered beaches.
SHOULD YOU SWITCH LOCATIONS IF A RARE PROLONGED WET PERIOD HITS?
In general, no. Prolonged bad periods are not common and the longer they last, the more chance of them ending. You move out one day and the next is great, but meanwhile you have moved into a new area and could hit another traveling wet patch.
SOME STATS AND FACTS FOR THE MORE POPULAR LOCATIONS.
Note that these statistics are averages of usually 30+ years of rainfall. So they show the trend , but that does not mean your visit will necessarily be the same. However, Thai climatic conditions tend to be more reliable than quite a few other places in the world.
CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN ANDAMAN.
Phuket, Krabi, Trang and Satun areas tend to be roughly similar. Check travelfish for variations.
The following figures are for PHUKET - monthly rain in mm, (brackets = number of days with rain each month)
JAN25mm(6 rain days) F25(5) M70(6) A125(12) M290(21) J280(20) J260(21) A270(20) S320(23) O340(23) N200(17) D60(9)
Note that I have seen several Phuket expats saying the real wet season doesn’t kick in until September and that June, July and August can be good months to visit.
Check paddleasia.com* (link at end - scroll down for the excellent weather calendar) which is the best verbal summary of mid Andaman weather I’ve seen.
Jamie”s Phuket Weather Blog** gives a good idea of conditions too.
And just about the most complete set of stats I’ve seen come from kohjumonline*** - they even list the number of really wet days for each month - over 35mm. Two thunderstorms can easily exceed 35mm, so even those days may not be write offs. Ko Jum is pretty close to Krabi, Ko Lanta and Phi Phi and so gives a good idea of those places too.
SAMUI AND NEIGBOURS
Note again the different timing of the wet season here - October into January.
J131mm(11 rain days) F56(6) M66(5) A75(8) M144(15) J109(14) J123(14) A121(15) S117(16) O304(20) N490(20) D211(14)
Anecdotally, I have noticed that this area tends to generate more poster complaints about prolonged rainy periods and prolonged heavily overcast/windy periods than others. The months concerned are Oct/Nov/Dec. However the chances of this happening are not enough to avoid the area if you definitely want to see it and can only travel at this time. It seems these real wet ones come up about in about 20-25% of the years - but not necessarily every 4th or 5th year.
Note too, I got excellent weather in my one November visit - over more than 2 weeks I think it rained three times, twice at night.
EASTERN GULF - BIG KO CHANG AND NEIGHBOURS.
J38mm(4 rain days) F76(7) M104(9) A173(13) M371(22) J902(26) J903(26) A1071(28) S635(24) O358(21) N85(9) D2O(3)
Wow, that’s wet! Seems like those nearby big Cambodian coastal ranges sure generate some orographic uplift of the wet south-west monsoon air (I threw that in for the weather nerds).
Don’t give up on Chang if the only time you can visit is wet season. I have seen posts saying wet season gets enough good weather to make holidays okay.
Take care in the surf - nearly all Chang’s beaches face west into the wet-season wind and get big swell/rips during and after windy periods.
As mentioned earlier, this area's November rainfall stats are lower than all other coastal areas excpt Ko Samet - seems the wet season tends to end a bit sooner in the east.
CENTRAL GULF - PATTAYA, KO SAMET.
Several sources say Samet is one of the driest islands. There are no stats available, the closest I found is nearby Rayong, which certainly is a lot drier than most other areas. There are only 3 months I would consider wet - May, Sept and Oct, and they aint bad.
Repeating that all but one of Samet’s beaches is on the sheltered eastern coast.
J17mm(2 rain days) F40(4) M65(4) A66(4) M190(15) J149(13) J133(12) A128(14) S248(17) O216(15) N84(8) D4(1)
BANGKOK
Also on the central Gulf and not all that much wetter than Pattaya.
J10mm(1 rain day) F20(3) M30(3) A60(6) M200(16) J160(16) J160(17) A170(20) S300(21) O210(17) N70(6) D5(1)
RANONG AREA
Little Ko Chang Andaman side and Ko Phayam are nearly as wet as big Ko Chang eastern Gulf. Lovely islands in dry season.
J12mm(4 rain days) F16(3) M50(5) A155(7) M446(23) J696(25) J644(26) A815(28) S661(25) O414(24) N174(15) D36(5)
THE NORTH
Less rain, later start, earlier finish. However, each wet season there is at least one report of flooding somewhere in the north. These figures are for Chiang Mai.
J8mm(1 rain day) F9(1) M17(2) A55(6) M155(15) J119(16) J158(19) A224(21) S202(17) O116(12) N51(5) D18(2)
OTHER POSTER’S COMMENTS
There have been so many - just a few:
jinx - “I only ever go to Southern Thailand in the off season because prices are 60%, there is no problem getting a booking and in, the south, say in 10 trips, I have never been inconvenienced by rain by more than say 2 hours.”
Batfish (Jamie of Jamie’s Phuket Weather Blog) - ”The "monsoon"season here just means you get more rain than in the "dry" season. Some years it's more extreme, but many people read "rainy season" and think you are going to need an Ark to survive. My parents have visited 2 times in July (to Phuket, in the rainy season). I would estimate we had 75% sun, and maybe on a couple of days out of 6 weeks total the weather was bad enough to make us change plans.
Going to Thailand? Just GO!
I like the summer. A bit of variety in weather, clearer air, not so hot, all the trees are green”
Kunjimbo, who lives at Ban Phe, the port just across from Ko Samet: - "Ban Phe/Samet areas are supposedly the driest in Thailand. The rainy season here is June to October, and I've also seen rain in November. When it rains, it really comes down. Some crashing-good thunder&lightning storms too. It usually does that at night or early morning. I only remember a couple of days in the 2 years I've lived here when it rained all day. Like other posters have pointed out on other threads, Thai rainstorms are intermittent and are no reason to cancel or postpone trips”.
LINKS
travelfish weatherfish - http://www.travelfish.org/weather_fish.php
*Jamie's Phuket Weather Blog - JPWB
CENTRAL GULF - PATTAYA, KO SAMET.
Several sources say Samet is one of the driest islands. There are no stats available, the closest I found is nearby Rayong, which certainly is a lot drier than most other areas. There are only 3 months I would consider wet - May, Sept and Oct, and they aint bad.
Repeating that all but one of Samet’s beaches is on the sheltered eastern coast.
J17mm(2 rain days) F40(4) M65(4) A66(4) M190(15) J149(13) J133(12) A128(14) S248(17) O216(15) N84(8) D4(1)
BANGKOK
Also on the central Gulf and not all that much wetter than Pattaya.
J10mm(1 rain day) F20(3) M30(3) A60(6) M200(16) J160(16) J160(17) A170(20) S300(21) O210(17) N70(6) D5(1)
RANONG AREA
Little Ko Chang Andaman side and Ko Phayam are nearly as wet as big Ko Chang eastern Gulf. Lovely islands in dry season.
J12mm(4 rain days) F16(3) M50(5) A155(7) M446(23) J696(25) J644(26) A815(28) S661(25) O414(24) N174(15) D36(5)
THE NORTH
Less rain, later start, earlier finish. However, each wet season there is at least one report of flooding somewhere in the north. These figures are for Chiang Mai.
J8mm(1 rain day) F9(1) M17(2) A55(6) M155(15) J119(16) J158(19) A224(21) S202(17) O116(12) N51(5) D18(2)
OTHER POSTER’S COMMENTS
There have been so many - just a few:
jinx - “I only ever go to Southern Thailand in the off season because prices are 60%, there is no problem getting a booking and in, the south, say in 10 trips, I have never been inconvenienced by rain by more than say 2 hours.”
Batfish (Jamie of Jamie’s Phuket Weather Blog) - ”The "monsoon"season here just means you get more rain than in the "dry" season. Some years it's more extreme, but many people read "rainy season" and think you are going to need an Ark to survive. My parents have visited 2 times in July (to Phuket, in the rainy season). I would estimate we had 75% sun, and maybe on a couple of days out of 6 weeks total the weather was bad enough to make us change plans.
Going to Thailand? Just GO!
I like the summer. A bit of variety in weather, clearer air, not so hot, all the trees are green”
Kunjimbo, who lives at Ban Phe, the port just across from Ko Samet: - "Ban Phe/Samet areas are supposedly the driest in Thailand. The rainy season here is June to October, and I've also seen rain in November. When it rains, it really comes down. Some crashing-good thunder&lightning storms too. It usually does that at night or early morning. I only remember a couple of days in the 2 years I've lived here when it rained all day. Like other posters have pointed out on other threads, Thai rainstorms are intermittent and are no reason to cancel or postpone trips”.
LINKS
travelfish weatherfish - http://www.travelfish.org/weather_fish.php
*Jamie's Phuket Weather Blog - JPWB
.
* Camille's Samui Weather Blog - CSWB
**paddleasia.com - weather calendar
***kojumonline - weather and climate
**paddleasia.com - weather calendar
***kojumonline - weather and climate
Thai weather radar - 15 different stations
Rain, temp and winds in Thailand yesterday - TMD - plus if you go to the WEATHER icon top right of page you can navigate to pages giving you regional forecasts, weather conditions at key towns in 3 hour blocks over the past 24 hours to current time and more.
There are so many others. To keep it simple I’ll give what I think is one of the best - Windguru which gives present, past and forecast weather in amazing detail - how much rain, what time of day, ditto wind speed and direction, cloud cover, ocean swell. Maybe a bit optimistic trying for that detail up to a week ahead. The link is for Samui, but you can also access Phuket and Ban Phe for Ko Samet, Pattaya and a few other places from the main page. Excellent for divers, wind-surfers, kite surfers and normal travelers - windguru
THE ORIGINAL WET WEATHER THREAD which has a greater range of comments from other people about their experiences of wet season in Thailand is here.
If you have any questions, please ask them in THE FORUM rather than below. I don't get a chance to check all threads daily, but unless I'm travelling I'll try to monitor THE FORUM regularly.
2 comments:
ally useful info! thanks
sorry that should have said really useful!
Post a Comment