Phuket Weather

What is the weather like in Phuket right now?

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk) — Sun, 15 Mar 2020 15:41:00 +0000

When I started this Phuket weather blog in 2006 I had more time for (almost) daily updates, which later became monthly updates and by 2016, almost no updates, sorry! My main blog - Jamie's Phuket Blog kept going, and the weather was often mentioned on Twitter. But in mid-2019 I left Phuket - our family has moved to the UK. So although I do reTweet other people's Phuket news and photos, there are no updates from me. To get a very good idea of the latest weather in Phuket, there are plenty of pages on this blog with real-time Phuket weather information.

Phuket Webcams

The best way to check the current weather in Phuket is a live webcam. These come and go. Right now you can find a couple of good ones at Patong and Karon beaches on the west coast of Phuket. With a webcam you can see exactly what the weather is doing in Phuket!

Karon Beach Webcam
Patong Beach Webcam

Phuket Weather Tools

Phuket Weather Radar

Accuweather Weather Forecast

Windguru Wind and Wave Forecast for Phuket

More Phuket Weather Forecasts

And for plenty more Phuket information - Jamie's Phuket Blog is the place to go!

Phuket Weather Forecasts

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk) — Fri, 06 Mar 2020 14:19:00 +0000

I lived in Phuket from 1999 to 2019 and started this weather blog in 2006 so I think I can say that I know the weather in Phuket. And ... it's unpredictable. Phuket weather is not as simple as "wet" / "dry" or "low season" / "high season". Yes, on average you get less rain from November to April compared to May to October, but this does not mean you'll get NO rain in December, and it does not mean you'll get ALL rain in July. There are rainy days in high season, and there are beautiful sunny days in low season. You can visit in August and have a week of sunshine, or you can be unlucky and get mostly wet, windy weather. The weather can be a bit random sometimes. And most of the weather forecasts online are, in my opinion, a bit useless.

What websites have good weather forecasts for Phuket? The sites I use most are Windguru, Windy.com and Accuweather.

Windguru is more of a wind and wave forecast site, though it does have estimated rainfall. I have used this site for years - very useful for planning dive trips - on a boat trip we don't care too much about rain, but we do care about strong winds and high waves! Windy.com is a lovely site to play with, it shows a map which you can zoom in and out of, you can switch from wind forecast to wave forecast to rain forecast, it's great.

Accuweather, of all the big weather forecast sites, I find to be most accurate. It shows daily and hourly forecasts with % chances of rain.

One issue with Phuket weather forecasts is that the weather here is often very localised. It might be raining in one part of Phuket, sunny in another. Thunderstorms and showers can last just a short time, so an otherwise dry day is marked as "rainy". You may see little weather symbols which indicate rain, but please .. this does not mean it will rain all day all over Phuket. We do sometimes get heavy weather with a few days of rain over a large area in low season, but that is not so common. Weather here in Phuket in low/wet season is very changeable and normally very localised.

Other forecast tools ...

The Phuket weather (rain) radar is useful to see what is on the way soon! You can see rain coming in, it's good to estimate how wet or dry the next few hours may be, good for short term planning.

A weather satellite is also good for looking at incoming weather.

There are lots of weather forecasts on the web for Phuket. By all means do have a look but they do tend to be inaccurate and don't take into account localised weather. Often in low season, some of these sites are just set on "Chance of Rain" or "Chance of Thunderstorm" every day! And that's a load of crap. You can check the Phuket forecast at Weather.com, Yahoo, BBC, or the Thai Meteorological Department.

Patong Beach Phuket Webcam

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk) — Thu, 20 Feb 2020 01:17:00 +0000

There has been a Karon Beach webcam on the blog for a long time, and there was a live Patong Beach webcam, with thanks to my friend Wes who set up a webcam company (Sawadee Cam). Click on the link or photo below to get to the Sawadee Cam website (opens in a new window).

For hotels in Patong beach, check my list of Patong Beach Hotel Recommendations on the Phuket Blog, or check for a full list of Patong Beach Hotels at Agoda.com - you can book Phuket hotels online with Agoda.com.

The image above is a screenshot - click on the image to get to the live webcam looking out to the west over Patong Bay from the 15th floor of the Patong Tower in the middle of Patong. So there's always a good view! You can see a bit of the beach and across the bay. You can also find daily timelapse videos from this Phuket webcam on YouTube - see Sawadee Cam on YouTube. Good for checking the latest Phuket weather!

Bangkok Weather Radar (Rain Radar)

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk) — Tue, 16 Jul 2019 12:04:00 +0000

Bangkok is about 700km north of Phuket (more like 850 by road). Weather that far away is quite different to Phuket, although still generally hot and humid much of the time. The TMD website has several different Bangkok radar images. Since many visitors to Phuket will be likely to pass through Bangkok, you should know what the weather is like there!

Note that the time shown at the bottom of the image is Thai Local Time.

Original source : TMD

Southern Thailand Weather radar on the Weather Blog :

• Phuket Weather Radar
• Krabi Weather Radar
• Surat Thani Weather Radar

More Bangkok Information

Bangkok Hotel Booking at Agoda.com

(above) Bangkok Traffic - photo taken July 2017

Windguru Wind and Wave Forecast for Phuket

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk) — Tue, 02 Apr 2019 03:51:00 +0000

Windguru is probably the weather forecast I use most for Phuket. I find that most of the weather websites and news websites have very simple forecasts which for much of the year show a thunderstorm symbol meaning "chance of a thunderstorm". This is normally wrong, but it makes people worried. Sure in a tropical location you do have the chance of a thunderstorm, but that might last 1 hour and only affect a small part of Phuket. Of course there is no perfect forecast. I like Windguru because it shows wind and wave predictions, and since I managed a Phuket dive shop, this is more important than rain - you can dive in the rain, but you might want to reconsider in 25 knot winds and 3 meter waves! Windguru also has some rain prediction, I am not sure if that is really accurate, but overall I find Windguru to be pretty good.

Here's a forecast for the next 7 days for Phuket

You can scroll across using the scrollbar at the bottom of the forecast. For more Phuket weather, wind and wave forecasts, check the Windguru Website : Phuket Forecast on Windguru

Phuket Air Quality

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk) — Wed, 30 Jan 2019 14:09:00 +0000

Air quality very much in the news right now. Bangkok is very smoggy lately, partly due to local emissions (especially traffic) and partly due to burning of fields to the east. Local authorities trying all kind of nonsense like spraying water off tall buildings and deploying water spraying drones. It might cut the haze a little, but the root problem is pollution. Traffic in Bangkok is nuts. I last had a day there in 2017 and really, maybe Bangkok is fun for some people, but too busy for me. So much traffic, and that means a lot of emissions.

(above) Bangkok traffic, July 2017

It's all over the news right now, with schools closing this week so kids don't have to go outside, and many people I follow on Twitter are talking about the air. If I was in Bangkok right now, I'd be asking for a few days holiday somewhere withe cleaner air! Suggest following Richard Barrow on Twitter, he has a lot of news and updates.

A great web link to use for air quality is the AirVisual website ...

Bangkok Air Quality

and compare to

Phuket Air Quality

or for reference ...

London Air Quality

And see where Bangkok ranks ..

World Air Quality Rankings

So here in Phuket, air is much clearer even if I do complain about traffic some days, it's nothing compared to Bangkok. It has been a bit hazy recently, and that may be due to another factor in the Bangkok haze - burning of fields in the east of Thailand and also in Cambodia, all to the northeast of Phuket and with a NE wind blowing we can get a hazy sky due to this burning.

A couple of nice little widgets from the Airvisual website ...

Phuket Air Quality :

compare to Bangkok Air Quality :

Chiang Mai is sometimes even worse :

Tropical Storm Pabuk

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk) — Thu, 03 Jan 2019 13:24:00 +0000

Well, this Phuket Weather Blog started way back in 2006, but I more or less stopped updating several years ago due to time constraints and the fact that Phuket weather is not really so exciting. Mostly hot, a good chance of hot and sunny, and even if it rains it's still hot. Low season (from about mid May to mid October) is wetter on average than high season, but for sure you can get wet days in high season just as you get lovely sunny days in low season. It's tropical weather, but normally the bad weather is not that bad. A bit of wind and rain, but we don't get huge storms, and (at least in written record) there has never been a Typhoon strength storm hit Phuket, and only 1 to hit Thailand (Typhoon Gay in 1989 which hit my wife's home town Chumphon). So I kind of got bored blogging the weather, though I do often mention weather on Twitter - follow me @jamiemonk!

Latest updates see further down. Storm has gone now. Nothing to worry about. We had a bit of rain. Parts of the mainland especially in Nakhon Si Thammarat province had some flooding and there was some minor damage here and there in Nakhon and Surat. Koh Samui had some rough seas and rain, but nothing serious.

---------------

(written 3 January)

Well this week we have something to mention. Tropical Storm Pabuk seems to be heading this way. Currently off the east coast bringing rain to Nakhorn Si Thammarat and Surat Thani and Songkhla provinces. The storm has been heading here for a few days from the seas south of Vietnam and while it is not a Typhoon strength storm, it looks like it'll bring plenty of rain, so east coast areas should be wary of flooding. Current location - see image below from the excellent Windy website.

The storm track was heading up the coast and crossing the Thai mainland some way north of Phuket, but this seems to be changing. The track on the Windy website - see https://www.windy.com/?7.507,99.808,9 now has the storm passing over Krabi province during Friday evening and being more or less over Phuket on Saturday. So it could be getting very wet indeed for a couple of days!

Another good website to follow - TropicalStormRisk

And you can see latest rain radar images on this weather blog:

Phuket Weather Radar
Krabi Weather Radar

And check the Windguru forecast also.

And there is a very good Satellite image here : http://www.sattmet.tmd.go.th/satmet/mergesat.html

Keep up with latest Phuket news - aside from following me on Twitter, Richard Barrow will be a good one to follow for Thai news. Also The Phuket News website and on Facebook.

Boat trips / dive trips have been cancelled out of Phuket for the 4th and 5th and ferries from Phi Phi won't be running either. On the east coast of Thailand I believe ferries to Samui / Koh Tao / Koh Pha Ngan are also affected as well as flights to Samui / Surat Thani and Nakhorn Si Thammarat. If you have urgent travel plans in the next few days ... check everything!

I'll be in the dive shop next 2 days unless Saturday is really shitty, then I might stay home. Let's see what happens. I recall a storm some years ago heading across the Gulf of Thailand, and we went to bed expecting to wake up to heavy rain and wind, but we woke up to blue skies - the storm had turned north. So .. let's see. Keep tuned to news and Twitter. See you on the other side.

UPDATE Friday evening 4th January

Getting a little rain in Phuket now (7pm). Latest storm tracking suggests Pabuk will pass north of Phuket (see Tropical Storm Risk). Latest Satellite image shows plenty rain on the mainland in Krabi and Nakorn Si Thammarat and storm seem to be moving mostly northwards. See below.

During the night we may get some heavier rain, or during tomorrow morning. Let's see!

Saturday morning update 5th January. Nothing happened. Storm broke up / dissipated, we had a few breezes and a few drips of rain last night. I reckon it'll be sunny by the afternoon.

(above) Satellite image animation 10am Saturday 5th January - storm all but gone and north of Phuket. Later on Saturday we had some rain, but just rain, nothing to write home about. Nothing to see here.

Phuket Webcams | Thailand Webcams

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk) — Wed, 03 Aug 2016 08:22:00 +0000

Webcams are a great way to quickly compare weather in different areas of Thailand. It's not always that easy to find a Thai webcam on the internet. If you search Google you get all kinds of results, but often leading to webcams that are no longer operating or pages that are basically sp@m. I have found quite a few good Thai webcams from various locations and lots in Phuket. Webcams are sometimes offline, or showing old data or just disappear.

Phuket Webcams

There are quite a few Phuket webcams on this Phuket weather blog. A great way to check the latest Phuket weather although do take care of the date and time showing on the webcams, they might not be 100% live, might be non functional and you may be seeing old weather! Sorry they are not my webcams!

Patong Beach

• Looking across the bay from Patong Tower
• At Graceland Resort

Karon Beach

• Looking along Karon Beach from Marina Resort

Kata Beach

• Kata View from the hillside

Phuket Town

• Old Phuket Town (corner Phuket Road and Phang Nga Road)

Chalong Bay

• Chalong Bay Webcam

Naiharn Beach

• Naiharn Beach Webcam

Khao Lak

• Khao Lak Webcam

Koh Samui - I get lots of questions about the weather - is Phuket weather better, or is it better in the Gulf of Thailand? Have a look!

• Koh Samui Webcams Youtube Channel

Hua Hin

• Hua Hin Webcam

Pattaya

• Pattaya Webcams

Koh Pha Ngan

• Thong Nai Pan Bay
• Maehaad Bay Resort

Bangkok

• Chaophraya River 2

Kanchanaburi

• Bridge Over the River Kwai

Like I say, some of these may not be running all the time. I do check now and then and remove links to dead cams, but this is the best I can do for now if you want to check the latest conditions (weather) in Phuket or other parts of Thailand. Please do note that none of these webcams are anything to do with naughty nightlife. Just street views, beach views and weather!

Narathiwat Weather Radar

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk) — Sun, 08 May 2016 02:57:00 +0000

Narathiwat is located in the extreme southeast of Thailand, bordering Malaysia. It's about 400km as the crow flies or over 600km by road from Phuket. Narathiwat has had quite a few issues over recent years with attacks by extremist Muslim separatists who want Narathiwat and it's neighbouring border states to not be part of Thailand. Not really a holiday hotspot. The radar shows the east coast as far north as Nakhorn Si Thammarat. Good for spotting weather coming from the east.

Note that the time shown at the bottom of the image is UTC (7 hours behind Thai time).

Original source : TMD

More Thailand Weather radar on the Weather Blog :

• Phuket Weather Radar
• Krabi Weather Radar
• Surat Thani Weather Radar
• Songhkla Weather Radar
• Bangkok Weather Radar
• Chumphon Weather Radar

More Narathiwat Information

Narathiwat Hotel Booking at Agoda.com
Narathiwat Travel Guide

Phuket Airport Arrivals and Departures

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk) — Wed, 16 Mar 2016 12:33:00 +0000

Phuket Airport - Flight Arrivals and Departures

(data from www.flightstats.com)

Sathing Phra (Songkhla) Weather Radar

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk) — Fri, 18 Dec 2015 02:35:00 +0000

Songkhla province is on the southeast coast of Thailand, with it's main towns, Songkhla and Hat Yai, being about 250km southeast of Phuket as the crow flies, though that is over 400km by road. The radar is centered at Sathing Phra, which is just north of Songkhla town along the east coast. This radar is good for spotting weather coming from the east. Phuket is just about visible in the top left of the image.

Note that the time shown is UTC (7 hours behind Thai time).

Original source : TMD

More Thailand Weather radar on the Weather Blog :

• Phuket Weather Radar
• Krabi Weather Radar
• Surat Thani Weather Radar
• Chumphon Weather Radar
• Bangkok Weather Radar

More Songkhla Information

Songkhla Hotel Booking at Agoda.com

Webcam above Kata Beach Phuket

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk) — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 12:38:00 +0000

There is currently a very good website online called See It Live Thailand. There are webcams all over the country from Phuket to Pattaya to Kanchanaburi to Koh Tao, all over! Here's a great one. This webcam is at the famous After Beach Bar located on the hillside above Kata Noi beach, reached along the road between Kata and Naiharn in the south of Phuket.

The webcam is on the See It Live Thailand website here.

Kata beach hotel suggestions here.

Phuket Flight Radar (Phuket Airport Radar)

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk) — Tue, 20 Oct 2015 13:34:00 +0000

The excellent FlightRadar24.com website shows live flight radar data from all over the world (with a couple of blank spots like North Korea). If you zoom out for a wide view you can see just how many planes are in the sky at one time! The view below shows the skies around Phuket Airport.

Use the + and - to zoom in and out. You can click on planes to see their flight path and flight and aircraft details.

You can also view this on the FlightRadar24 website.

Phuket Weather August 2015

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk) — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 13:53:00 +0000

In the song "April Come She Will", Paul Simon sings "August Die She Must". A lot of my thoughts have been on August 2014. My mother passed away in the early hours of August 29th, just over a year ago. I had spent 3 weeks in England in mid July and early August, and was still somehow hopeful that she'd fight off the Big C again. But within a week of coming back to Phuket, the family was suggesting that I should get to England again. So I flew back just a couple of days before she left us. Dad, meanwhile, had been placed in a care home, as his dementia had got worse. He's still in care now. While I was there, just after Mum died, Dad fell and broke his hip. Oh I can't tell you what a fun couple of weeks I had in early September 2014. I'm heading back for a couple of weeks soon to see Dad and family. So I won't be in Phuket for half of September.

Here's a quick review of Phuket weather during August 2015 looking back at what I posted on Twitter and with some photos. Please do Follow Me on Twitter (@jamiemonk) for weather news, Phuket news, idle chat .. and you can ask questions on Twitter too :) I tend to mention the weather most days.

August had it all. Some really wet days and some really, really lovely sunny days. A typical mix for low season. People often ask "what will the weather be like on these dates : xyz to xyz?" I don't know. Weather changes all the time. If you are coming in low season, you might be lucky, or you might get wet!

First couple of days of August I was not in Phuket - we took a long weekend trip to Chumphon, my wife's hometown. About 380km door to door. Not too far for a long weekend!

View from my sister-in-law's house at Paknam Chumphon. pic.twitter.com/xOuTW2rdxw
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) August 1, 2015

Drove back on August 2nd ....

Driving between Surat Thani and Phang Nga pic.twitter.com/LJ1jp6s8G1
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) August 2, 2015

Back in Phuket ... Over the Sarasin bridge under blue skies. pic.twitter.com/v9fF2PimAG
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) August 2, 2015

And looked like it had been dry for the 3 days we were away. Our garden was all dry.

And then August 3rd, rain. Lots of rain. I had a tricky drive to work, through some small floods, worrying that my little Honda City would not make it!

A few photos of my lovely drive to work this morning pic.twitter.com/syBndCUnsf
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) August 3, 2015

August 4th, forecast was awful, but the weather in Phuket was actually good! Until the night time when the rain lashed down again.

August 5th I Tweeted "After a wet, wet night it's a grey morning here."

August 6th the weather Tweet said "Good morning from a grainy Phuket (grainy = grey + rainy)"

August 7th - a really wet and windy day, yuk!

Current weather at Karon Beach #Phuket as seen from the webcam @ http://t.co/9Vgtc9Rvo3 pic.twitter.com/yF0OK5aO3Q
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) August 7, 2015

August 8th - grey, cloudy, a few sunny spells, windy.

August 9th - "Sunday morning weather in Phuket ... very windy, but lots of clear blue sky."

My little dudes at the wakepark in Kathu this afternoon. It's getting to be one of their favourite things to do. pic.twitter.com/n8IdLiSstu
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) August 9, 2015

Weather was OK for the kids to enjoy some time at the Phuket Wake Park.

How's the weather? Pretty darn nice! This little shrine is outside our dive shop @ Karon beach. pic.twitter.com/tpIjQY38Pn
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) August 10, 2015

Tuesday morning .... It's starting off wet and windy. Yesterday was hot and sunny. That's low season in a nutshell.
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) August 11, 2015

It's been light rain all day here at Karon beach, grey and drizzly.
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) August 12, 2015

August 13th - started dry and got sunny, hooray! And during the next few days, there were several drownings at different beaches. BIG WAVES = DON'T SWIM! Please!

And in Phuket weather news .. it's quite nice and sunny today.
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) August 14, 2015

August 15th .. we drove to Phang Nga and went White Water Rafting!

Rafting family :) pic.twitter.com/4FEoSPyOym
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) August 15, 2015

Great day! After the rafting, we headed to Khao Lak and checked in at The Leaf On The Sands hotel. Great!

Beautiful sunny day here in Khao Lak :) pic.twitter.com/8TxZ33J4o5
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) August 15, 2015

Read more about out weekend - Rafting and Staying in Khao Lak.

And we got very lucky with the weather - you can see earlier in August some wet days, but on 15th and 16th, great weather!

(above) Khao Lak, morning of 16th August. My son and his buddies enjoying perfect low season beach time!

August 17th, a sunny Monday, but a very sad evening for Thailand - the bomb at the Erawan Shrine took everyone by surprise. Nothing like this has happened before. I tried following updates on Twitter, but conflicting reports came in thick and fast. It was a bad night.

August 18th a day to think about what had happened last night, the weather seemed unimportant. It was sunny in Karon beach while I worked. My wife told me it piss3d down in Kathu where we live.

Good morning from Karon beach Phuket ... A perfect low season day. Make the most of it! pic.twitter.com/iS0z1nkztv
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) August 19, 2015

(above) Perfect on August 19th

August 20th started grey, got wet and then very wet, a few more little floods here and there.

August 21st was mostly grey

Not a beach day today ... view from the Karon beach webcam now @ http://t.co/9Vgtc9Rvo3 pic.twitter.com/lUqP7jXJYc
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) August 22, 2015

August 22nd mostly wet! But cleared up in the late afternoon. So me and the boy went for some exercise at Bang Wad Reservoir.

Me and the boy have come for some exercise at Bang Wad reservoir pic.twitter.com/l9uVKjSSZS
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) August 22, 2015

August 23rd - much nicer, thanks! We took a drive to Surin and Laem Sing beach, and still had time to let the kids have a couple of hours at the wake park.

Quick stop at Surin beach ... Looking very nice in parts, but some areas of the beach rather messy. pic.twitter.com/NuU3RPxnM2
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) August 23, 2015

August 24th, woke to the sound of rain. But things got nicer. A mostly sunny day.

August 25th. A day to remember what would have been Mum's 71st birthday. Weather was OK.

Morning weather at Karon beach, Phuket .... slightly grey, slightly sunny, might get sunnier or might get greyer.
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) August 26, 2015

August 26th (above) . Want a typical low season day? That's it. A bit sunny, a bit cloudy, might rain, might not rain.

August 27th, and there did arrive on the land of Phuket a blanket of haze. Or something. Was it from fires burning in Sumatra? Or just a kind of fog? Not sure!

Very very hazy sunset this evening over the hills. pic.twitter.com/tUEeDASibk
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) August 27, 2015

August 28th was still hazy. The 29th started sunny, got rainy, then sunny again. Kids were at the wake park all day! I had one of my house and garden work days. Ah yes it's not all cocktails on the beach living in Phuket. There's real life to get on with, bills to pay, family to look after. But I'd certainly rather be here than England.

At Phuket Wake Park after dark ... Open until 9pm. pic.twitter.com/sVOy8u7L32
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) August 29, 2015

August 30th - planned to drive to Nai Yang beach, but got stuck shopping in the Central Festival mall :) Ah well. But in the evening, headed into town. The Por Tor Festival has started.

At the main market in Phuket Town this evening ... Start of the Por Tor / Hungry Ghost festival. pic.twitter.com/EQT6Z6feke
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) August 30, 2015

August 31st - was there any weather? Nothing to report!

September is typically quite wet, but has not been wet these first couple of days. I hope England is not too cold!

Live Webcam at Naiharn Beach Phuket

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk) — Thu, 20 Aug 2015 14:44:00 +0000

This webcam is a new one in 2018 .. Looking across Naiharn Bay from an Italian Restaurant called Trattoria del Buongustaio which is located just round the bay from the north end of Naiharn Beach near The Naiharn Resort. The webcam has it's own Youtube Channel with a live stream. The live view can be seen below ...

Looks like a great view for a meal! Might have to try it some day!

Check the restaurant's website : Trattoria del Buongustaio

The live webcam can be found on their website - see here.

And the Youtube Channel is here.

Phuket Weather Review July 2015

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk) — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 15:11:00 +0000

August is with us already (it's the 5th today). The weather so far this month has been typically mixed. Every day different. If you ask me for a weather forecast any time in low season, I will say "mixed". Today was wet, yesterday was sunny, the day before wet, the day before that was sunny. Wanna guess for tomorrow? Basically, if you are here in Phuket during low season (meaning any time mid May - mid October) expect some sun, some rain, some really nice days and (sorry) some rather cr*ppy days!

Here's a quick review of July 2015 using Twitter and some photos. Please do Follow Me on Twitter (@jamiemonk) for weather news, Phuket news, idle chat .. and you can ask questions on Twitter too :) I tend to mention the weather most days.

Another lovely sunny low season morning here in Phuket. A few clouds around. mostly blue sky http://t.co/Ez4Hw71Mhx (webcam)
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) July 1, 2015

Another lovely sky this evening pic.twitter.com/lZ31QXoqLT
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) July 2, 2015

The sky one way is lovely, the other way looks like rain coming. That's typical low season weather in Phuket. pic.twitter.com/EvH2yGH2g8
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) July 3, 2015

On Saturday July 4th, a day with no work ... and a typical low season day. Tweet says "A few minutes ago it was pissing down, now sunny with blue skies overhead. On a windy day the showers can pass very quickly!"

Not a day for a paddle ... big waves at Karon Beach (photo from the webcam http://t.co/9Vgtc9Rvo3) pic.twitter.com/RYHkMvSLFV
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) July 4, 2015

Not an ideal day for a day out, but we got to Phuket Town later for dinner at Kopitiam, a regular favourite.

Kopitiam is one of our favourites ... On Thalang road in the heart of old town. pic.twitter.com/wr4jhO3YdZ
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) July 4, 2015

July 5th - similar weather to the 4th, windy, big waves and showers.

July 6th - worse!

View from Karon beach webcam right now http://t.co/9Vgtc9Rvo3 .. I'd suggest today is a good day to have a few beers! pic.twitter.com/W91ZMZuRRa
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) July 6, 2015

And July 7th, also crap!

Rain bucketing down at the moment here @ Karon ... Proper low season weather today :) pic.twitter.com/n4erdtzmhG
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) July 7, 2015

July 8th, after several wet days in a row (yes this can happen, bad luck if it happens to you!) things were a bit nicer, but I got some kind of stomach bug and spent most of the 8th and 9th in bed. Managed a half day at Sunrise Divers on the 10th.

Lots of rain overnight and windy too. This morning a mix of blue skies and showers.
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) July 10, 2015

In fact when I look back, early July was all pretty grey and wet! The 11th was a day of heavy showers and sudden sunny bursts.

July 12th looked better ...

Blue skies over our house now ... But we have no plans to go out ... Kids should study for tests! pic.twitter.com/T6r0q1kNu4
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) July 12, 2015

And the evening was good enough for a walk and snack at the old town Sunday market ...

We're at the Sunday walking street market in old Phuket town pic.twitter.com/rfD3sAAqvR
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) July 12, 2015

13th however was back to grey and showery weather. July 14th also wet, plus the power was off all day in Karon, so I closed up the dive shop early and answered emails at home. Yeh, now I look at it, half of July was not the best weather! The 15th was also sunshine and showers.

Morning weather in Phuket .. brighter and less windy than the last few days. Not exactly sunny yet, and still big waves at the beach.
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) July 16, 2015

It's an almost sunny day ... half a day spent clearing up the garden after a week of pretty wet, windy weather.
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) July 17, 2015

July 17th afternoon we planned to watch the new Terminator movie, but found out it had finished the day before! So we spent the money on lunch at Wine Connection :)

No movie so we spent the money at Wine Connection instead :) pic.twitter.com/pgIIpXToWO
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) July 17, 2015

And then a walk at Bang Wad reservoir in Kathu ...

Quick evening walk at Bang Wad reservoir pic.twitter.com/2gBtH0ncfa
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) July 17, 2015

July 18th - sun in the morning, rain later.

July 19th, despite a wet start, we headed out to do some exploring in Phang Nga to the north of Phuket :)

Plenty of clouds as we enter Phang Nga, but the weather won't stop us ... Fortune favours the brave and all that. pic.twitter.com/DkoD004JSq
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) July 19, 2015

We visited Bang Pat village, very popular with local tourists at weekends, and specially this weekend after Ramadan, lots of Muslims out for a big meal!

And then in the evening, me and the boy went to watch Phuket FC v Songkhla ...

No cans or bottles allowed in the stadium so it's Leo beer in a plastic glass with ice and a straw! pic.twitter.com/DncNrHsiRm
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) July 19, 2015

July 20th, another somewhat grey day with some rain, the 21st a little nicer, no rain.

And the 22nd suddenly much, much better weather.

And July 23rd ...

Good morning from Karon Beach #Phuket :) pic.twitter.com/buFOMMmPSJ
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) July 23, 2015

Now that's what I call a nice day! At Karon beach, which had seen big waves the week before, it was like high season.

July 24th (Friday) also very nice, so .. looking good for the weekend.

We got this on Saturday morning (25th) :

Where'd the sun go? Just popped out for a few errands ... pic.twitter.com/HrgVw5Q8DP
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) July 25, 2015

Yes it had started sunny, but then the rain really came down hard for an hour.

But things got a lot better so we could take the kids to Phuket Wake Park for a couple of hours.

(above) at the wake park on July 25th.

July 26th another sunny day with some showers.

Phuket weather - looks like a sunny Monday, but like the last 2 days, don't be surprised if some thunder arrives later.
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) July 27, 2015

After a few rumbles of thunder, it's turned into a lovely sunny morning. If you are in Phuket, get up and get out!
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) July 28, 2015

Good morning from Phuket ... 7:30am and sunny. Can't promise it'll last all day, this is low season, but the last week has been pretty nice.
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) July 29, 2015

July 30th was the start of the 3 day Kathu village street culture festival - lots of colour and local food. We just missed the main parade, but I found some of the participants on the street later ...

At the Kathu village festival in Phuket this evening. It's on for 2 more days. pic.twitter.com/hnKeux0n3K
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) July 30, 2015

And on July 31st we drove off Phuket up to Chumphon about 400km north for a few days visiting my wife's family.

And that was July 2015 in Phuket! It was quite damp I suppose. But many days were very nice and much of the time the rain here is not that heavy, bring a light raincoat and a small umbrella and you can do just about anything you want, just there might not be clear blue skies. Hoping for a great August! Cheers!

Surat Thani Weather Radar

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk) — Sat, 25 Jul 2015 07:34:00 +0000

Surat Thani province is to the east / northeast of Phuket. It's about 200km from here to Surat Thani Town. You can see Phuket clearly marked on the radar image below. Surat Thani province includes Koh Samui and also Khao Sok National Park. It's a big area - over 12,000 square kilometers.

Note that the time shown at the bottom of the image is UTC (7 hours behind Thai time).

Original source : TMD

More Thailand Weather radar on the Weather Blog :

• Phuket Weather Radar
• Chumphon Weather Radar
• Krabi Weather Radar
• Bangkok Weather Radar
• Sathing Phra Songkhla Weather Radar

More Surat Thani Information

Surat Thani Hotel Booking at Agoda.com

Chumphon Weather Radar

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk) — Thu, 09 Jul 2015 03:21:00 +0000

Chumphon province is to the northeast of Phuket, about halfway to Bangkok. It's around 400km by road to Chumphon Town. The province stretches about 150km up the east coast, with Surat Thani to the south, Ranong to the southwest and a long border with Myanmar to the west. We visit Chumphon a lot as it's my wife's home town and we bought a house there. Very nice area, some lovely scenery and great beaches with hardly any tourists. This radar is good to spot weather coming in from the northeast. Phuket is right at the bottom of the image .. well, it's just off the image actually. You can see all of the provinces of Chumphon, Surat Thani, Phang Nga and Ranong.

Note that the time shown at the bottom of the image is UTC (7 hours behind Thai time).

Original source : TMD

More Thailand Weather radars on the Weather Blog :

• Phuket Weather Radar
• Krabi Weather Radar
• Bangkok Weather Radar
• Surat Thani Weather Radar
• Sathing Phra Songkhla Weather Radar

More Chumphon Information

Chumphon Hotel Booking at Agoda.com
Chumphon Information on my blog

It's July in Phuket .. How was June?

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk) — Sun, 05 Jul 2015 14:05:00 +0000

Well, when we last updated the Phuket weather blog in early June, it looked like the real low season was about to kick off after a very wet period, followed by a few nice days - this always happens at the start of low season ... then just as we think it's getting nice, some real bad weather starts! Well, the high season had been long and hot. And much of June was pretty good too. I saw on the news that many places around the world had their hottest ever June. Weather is definitely a bit f*cked up. And this is an El Niño year, with recent reports suggesting this El Niño may last through to 2016. El Niño tends to make things a bit tipsy turvy or, in other words, f*cked up. Record temperatures, record rainfalls, more storms, more drought, less rainfall .. depends on the location. Can we control this? No. Should we worry? Not really, not in the short term. Long term, y'all might want to thing about energy use, carbon emissions and recycling. Every little helps.

Let's have a look through June with the help of Twitter and some photos. Please do Follow Me on Twitter for weather news, Phuket news, idle chat .. and you can ask questions on Twitter too :) I tend to mention the weather most days. Last blog update was June 2nd, so let's recap the month of June 2015 ....

Afternoon weather here at Sunrise Divers, Karon beach. pic.twitter.com/7pzFRiFMKS
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) June 3, 2015

Sunny evening .. Stopped at the exercise park near my house in Kathu #Phuket pic.twitter.com/M2wGXW6IWn
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) June 4, 2015

Weather looking good! June can be rather random at the best of times. For example Jun 2009 was dry - only 50mm rain. June 2010 saw 500mm of rain!

June 5th started sunny and then later ...

View from the Karon beach webcam right now (http://t.co/9Vgtc9Rvo3). Thunder rumbling over the hills. pic.twitter.com/urnYx2trRc
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) June 5, 2015

Sunny afternoon and I've been doing the garden ... Yeh, life in Phuket is not all cocktails by the beach. pic.twitter.com/uRunlhtpBM
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) June 6, 2015

June 6th (above) a "stay home" day .. got to do gardening sometimes!

June 7th we did manage to get out a bit ...

(above) View from Khao To Sae, also called Monkey Hill.

And even a nice sunset from our house later ...

Today's sunset as seen near our house pic.twitter.com/o2nRuJgRL9
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) June 7, 2015

June 8th started sunny, but ...

Looking out the door of Sunrise Divers ... Not an ideal day for diving :) pic.twitter.com/D19FllYIYN
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) June 8, 2015

And then ...

Weather today has gone from clear to grey to sunny to heavy rain and now blue skies #Phuket pic.twitter.com/BDncORoTVz
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) June 8, 2015

(above) Last 2 Tweets both from June 8th, typical low season weather. Might rain a bit, and then before you can finish lunch it's all sunny again!

June 9th, the weather was "grey, not sure which shade of grey. But it's a light grey. Chance of rain. Chance of sun."

June 10th was "perfect, if a little hot."

June 10th and 11th I had to visit Phuket immigration for my 1 year visa renewal, mostly simple, a few paperwork issues, like copies of my work permit being landscape when they need to be portrait.

June 11th weather was "slightly cloudy, or partly sunny depending on your mood."

June 12th I Tweeted the weather a few times, as it went from sunny to rainy to sunny.

A few little floods today due to heavy rain, but drained off pretty quick. I saw no floods in my 40km driving today http://t.co/vWFwFIdjZC
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) June 12, 2015

June 13th a bit of a wet Saturday and we had a new bed delivered Friday, so comfy that we did not wake up until 10:30am Saturday.

Breakfast time .. At 12:30 :) Fried kale with crispy pork and a fried egg on rice thank you. pic.twitter.com/VlRYnir5Yp
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) June 13, 2015

Morning weather report ... rain. Light rain, followed by slightly heavier rain.
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) June 14, 2015

We're taking a walk down Thalang Road ... Sunday walking street market in Phuket town. pic.twitter.com/iiF5U5w2b8
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) June 14, 2015

(above) June 14th was a bit wet, but dried up in the evening so we could visit the Sunday walking street market.

June 15th, 16th and 17th were all rather wet ...

Rain rain rain this morning and now power has gone off at the dive shop.
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) June 17, 2015

Especially the 17th!

Screenshot from the Karon beach webcam (http://t.co/9Vgtc9Rvo3) just now. Rather a sh*tty day! pic.twitter.com/JYMsLyovvv
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) June 17, 2015

But things got better ...

Thursday morning weather - lots of blue sky, hardly any wind. That should cheer some people up after a few very wet days here in Phuket.
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) June 18, 2015

Another lovely sunny morning just like yesterday, although yesterday afternoon became a bit wet and grey. Hope today can stay sunny.
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) June 19, 2015

June 19th I took a longer lunch as the power went off at the dive shop, so closed up for a while and headed to Rawai for lunch at Lucky 13 Sandwich. Good sarnis - recommended!

Weather today .. not seen the sun yet, nor has it rained. Everything is light grey. Think I'll have another beer.
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) June 20, 2015

June 21st a lovely day, not perfectly sunny, but we took an exploratory drive around an area of Phang Nga province, just over the bridge from Phuket. A big area that we'd never seen before.

(above) A couple of view from our drive on June 21st

By June 22nd the weather had totally improved ...

Good morning from Karon beach ... Beautiful day and almost empty sands! pic.twitter.com/0gwY5jkwzL
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) June 22, 2015

June 23rd a much nicer day to visit Sunrise Divers and book some diving!

Turned out nice again ... Photo shows Karon Plaza where I sit most days at Sunrise Divers (@sunrisedivers) pic.twitter.com/4CzxDVAgXp
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) June 23, 2015

June 24th the weather Tweet was "some sun, some cloud, light winds, maybe a chance of light rain ... maybe not."

June 25th very similar ... "rather like yesterday, a bit grey, might get brighter, or might get greyer. Yesterday turned out OK."

And the 26th ... "kind of greyish here in Phuket again. No wind, no rain, will it get sunny today?"

Several greyish, hazy days with some sun and hardly any wind. Good diving days!

June 26th - a meal at 'Da Sandro', an Italian place that just opened last month in Kathu. Good food - to be blogged on Jamie's Phuket sometime soon!

Dinner at 'Da Sandro' restaurant in Kathu #Phuket pic.twitter.com/8H0fYrbV0V
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) June 26, 2015

June 27th, never mind the weather (it was sunny) ... we saw this :

June 28th, started sunny, got rather grey, some rain around, but nothing too serious.

June 29th started grey, got nicer .. evening sky below ..

I liked the late afternoon sky today ... pic.twitter.com/uqmXxVItTV
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) June 29, 2015

June 30th - lovely sunny day with a lovely sunset ...

Sunset right now as seen from the live webcam at Cape Panwa looking west (http://t.co/Ez4Hw71Mhx …) pic.twitter.com/wzPFFYbrW3
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) June 30, 2015

That was June! For more updates, please do follow me on Twitter!

The first few days of July ... sunny, but then the wind has picked up and there have been some heavy showers. Again, nothing too serious. We don't get really bad weather here, no typhoons or huge floods, nothing like that. For sure some days can be wet, not nice for holidays. One thing I must remind people of is this ....

EVERY year some people drown at Phuket's beaches. Someone just drowned a couple of days ago at Patong. See big waves? DON'T SWIM! There can also be rip currents. Stay safe, please!

And see you in Phuket!

Webcam at Graceland Resort Patong Beach

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk) — Thu, 25 Jun 2015 13:02:00 +0000

This webcam is located at Graceland Resort at Patong Beach. It's looking across the hotel and pool, but does give a good idea of the current weather at Patong Beach. Graceland Resort is a nice place to stay along the north end of Patong away from the busiest areas, but an easy walk to the nightlife.

Sorry this one seems to have disappeared. Some webcams is on the TAT website here.

Info and booking for Graceland Resort here.

More Patong beach hotel suggestions here.

Phuket Weather Forecast by Accuweather

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk) — Mon, 15 Jun 2015 12:35:00 +0000

The Accuweather website is one that I have found to have fairly accurate forecasts. The Phuket weather forecast page is here. Forecasts for Phuket do tend to be rather inaccurate or vague. Weather can be changeable here especially in the months May to October. And rain / thunderstorms can be quite localised. Might be wet in one part of Phuket, but not another. So to give a forecast or a current weather report for "Phuket" can be misleading. The island is hilly which affects weather, and Phuket covers over 500 square km, so it's very common for one end of the island to have different weather to the other. Anyway - Accuweather is not bad! Check the Phuket weather widget below.

You can get Accuweather weather widgets for your website here.

Krabi Weather Radar (Rain Radar)

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk) — Mon, 15 Jun 2015 02:31:00 +0000

The Krabi weather radar is a good backup in case the Phuket Weather Radar is not online. Also useful if you are planning to visit Krabi :) Krabi is only about 60km east of Phuket and you can see Phuket clearly (the blue island) just left of center on the radar image below. The Krabi weather / rain radar has a wider range than the Phuket radar also - you can see east to Nakorn Sri Thammarat and Surat Thani / Koh Samui.

Note that the time shown is UTC (Thai time is UTC + 7 hours)

If the Krabi radar is not operating, just look at the Phuket Weather Radar - Krabi is shown clearly on here too.

Original source : TMD

More Southern Thailand Weather radar loops :

• Surat Thani
• Chumphon
• Songkhla

More Krabi Information

I had a couple of very nice short holidays in Krabi in 2017 and 2018 with the family. Makes a perfect long weekend from Phuket.

Krabi Hotel Booking at Agoda.com
Holiday in Krabi, April 2017
Holiday in Krabi, July 2017
Exploring Krabi October 2018
Emerald Pool, Krabi
Tiger Cave Temple, Krabi
Railay Beach and Phra Nang Beach

Phuket Weather - Low Season Begins

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk) — Tue, 02 Jun 2015 14:25:00 +0000

I posted a little review of the high season weather a couple of weeks ago (see Phuket High Season 2014 - 2015 Review). We have had a lot of hot weather and not much rain until recently. We'd had a little break from 2 - 11 May in Chumphon on the east coast of Thailand. And then, back to normal life - work at the dive shop for me and back to school for the kids. Now we're just about into June and we just had another little 3 day trip to Chumphon (came back yesterday) as the kids had Monday off school due to a Buddhist holiday. Now it's back to the grind!

Has the low season really started? Well we have finally had some proper rain, but the west / southwest monsoon winds have not really started yet and, for me, that is the sign that the real low season has begun. The Windguru forecast still shows only light winds for the next week.

A look back at the weather since we got back to Phuket on May 11th. Regular weather updates, please follow me on Twitter!

First a quick mention of earthquakes .. there were several small tremors (from 2.5 - 4 on the Richter scale) in the Phuket / Krabi area during the 10 days we were not here. I was rather miffed to miss them all!

Weather when we got back from Chumphon was just like on the east coast - hot, humid, a few rumbles of thunder, a few drips of rain in places.

(above) Jungly and slightly damp view from our lunchtime table at Pak Nam Seafood, 13th May.

May 14th we had some overnight rain, but the day was sunny and very hot. Ask my cats .. they crashed out in the shade.

May 15th, I Tweeted "Today's weather in Phuket ... hot with dark clouds around. Not rained on me yet, but for sure there's rain around"

After the kids finished school we took a walk at Sapan Hin park in the south of Phuket Town. The light winds were perfect for kite-flying.

(above) Some guys flying kites at Sapan Hin, May 15th 2015

May 16th - another lovely sunny day, there were thundery looking clouds around, maybe some areas of Phuket saw some rain. Did not rain on us!

May 17th - more of the same, but this was the first day I noticed any kind of westerly wind. I took a little (and rather dull) timelapse showing clouds moving across our garden.

Later we drove down to Cape Panwa. One of my favourite roads ...

May 18th .. well, I had taken a few extra days holiday the previous week, but now back to work! And to accompany me to work, it was a grey, wet start to the day, although it got sunny later.

May 19th ... more sunshine. I Tweeted a little photo of the Chinese shrine outside our dive shop

Afternoon weather report : hot and sunny pic.twitter.com/Pse7DhuuRY
— Jamie Monk in Phuket (@jamiemonk) May 19, 2015

May 20th weather Tweet of the day was "Beautiful sunny morning here in Phuket .. low season not here yet!"

May 21st ..."Good morning from sunny Karon beach ... Still waiting for low season weather to arrive!"

(above) Karon beach, May 21st

May 22nd "hot. Mostly sunny, some cloud, a little hazy. Light winds. Small waves at the beaches."

May 23rd I was in a temple mood, and wanted to update some photos on Jamie's Phuket Blog, so planned to visit 3 temples in the Thalang area of Phuket. My boy came with me ...

(above) Wat Sri Sunthorn

(above) Wat Phra Nang Sang

(above) Wat Phra Thong

Very nice day, there was some rain around, but not much. A little rain does not spoil a day out.

May 24th I could fill a blog post with the day we had .. Started very nice and sunny and we drove north into Phang Nga Province. No real aim, just taking a drive, finding noodles for breakfast and then trying to find our way to a place called Phu Ta Jor, a viewpoint in the hills, but as it turned out after much searching .. you need a 4WD vehicle to get up there. Anyway, nice scenery!

(above) Scenery in Phang Nga, May 24th

But on the way home, the rain poured down! Most rain I have seen for months.

(above) Driving in Phuket, 24th May about 6pm. Dark skies and lots of rain.

May 25th started grey and cool after all the rain we had (it continued in the night of the 24th). I'd say the 25th was fairly typical for a low season day. I Tweeted that the afternoon was quite nice and then an hour later the rain was lashing down! You get days like this .. some sun, some rain. Don't let the rain put you off!

May 26th was a wetter day, especially later in the day. A Tweet says "Getting dark outside, but it's only 4:30"

May 27th started with this Tweet "It's p*ssing down again this morning. Low season has begun in earnest."

But it seems that was a false start. Often seems to me that the start of the "wet season" is like this .. a few wet days and then it gets nice again.

May 28th "Woke up to the sound of light rain, but an hour later there's plenty of blue sky. Looks like a sunny day ahead."

And (below) the main street near our dive shop on May 28th :

On to May 29th "Another sunny, almost windless morning in Phuket. Proper low season not started yet!"

And about 5pm, a quick visit to the beach (Karon) ...

May 30th and 31st we were away, came back yesterday. Quite a bit of rain around down the west coast yesterday. We could see from our garden that we'd had rain, and today June 2nd was a wet one. Probably the wettest day of the year so far. Raining hard in the morning before I drove 20km from home to Karon beach, and then more heavy rain in the afternoon. Some small flooding on some roads, nothing serious - little floods in Phuket always drain off within a couple of hours. Roads were dry by the time I drove home at 5pm.

So, has low season really started? We have had some wet days in the last week, but still waiting for the winds to start. And I expect more of the days when, even on Twitter, it's hard to update the weather as it can change every hour!

Live Webcam at Cape Panwa, Phuket

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk) — Thu, 28 May 2015 09:19:00 +0000

This webcam is great for weather spotting. Located at the Sri Panwa Hotel at Cape Panwa and pointing west, you can see ocean and clear across to the western Phuket hills.

Webcam at Cape Panwa

The original cam is on the TAT website here. Find more webcams here. Sri Panwa hotel information here.

Phuket Weather Review 2014 - 2015

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk) — Thu, 14 May 2015 03:02:00 +0000

Well, I made a decision last year to stop updating the Phuket weather blog. It was just one more thing on a long list of things that need doing, and while I am still regularly updating Jamie's Phuket, the weather blog was getting a bit stale - constant posts about sun, rain, wind .... and I decided that the blog has many useful pages where you can check on the current weather - such as the Karon Beach Webcam, Patong Beach Webcam and Weather Radar. So regular updates where I wibble on about how it was sunny on Thursday, rained a bit in the night ... a bit unnecessary really. The tools are right here if anyone wants to know what the weather is like now.

And for a forecast .. well, the web is full of forecasts although you can't really trust any of them. As we head into our low season (aka rainy season, green season, southwest monsoon season) people tend to be worried - if you hear "rainy season" it does kind of imply that there is lots of rain, maybe constant rain. This is not true. Low season in Phuket has a lot of nice weather, some days are really wet, some days you get showers, some are just grey. I like the low season, I like the variety in the weather. Today is May 14th ... low season has not started yet. We are getting some rain nearly every day, short thunderstorms due to the heat - and this is the hottest time of year when the winds are light, before the southwest monsoon winds start. These winds are due to start very soon - best place to check for a forecast - Windguru.

For regular updates on Phuket weather, and local news, photos and up to date info, please do follow me on Twitter. I tend to post photos most days on Instagram too.

So, how's the weather been getting on the last 6 months without the blog? Pretty good is the answer. The high season has been dry and hot. There was a fair amount of rain early in the season up to New Year, but we had several months of almost no rain, and as we got into April it was getting real hot. This could end up being an El Niño year. A very busy high season for me at Sunrise Divers, a very good year for diving - lots of big fish around like whalesharks and manta rays. Despite a general downturn in tourism due to things like last years coup and the weakness of the Euro (and the Ruble), it was a good year for us. In fact the last 2 years have seen the best diving here for years. Hoping for another good season in 2015 - 2016!

In an attempt to summarize the 2014 - 2015 high season from November to May, here are some photos from the last 6 months. I think during low season, as the weather in Phuket is more changeable, I might just update this blog more often, but if not, the best place for weather news is Twitter.

Sunset on 6th November

16th November - we found a nice spot for a drink at Mai Khao Beach

View over Karon Beach, 22nd November

Bang Wad Reservoir, 4th December

Karon Beach, 26th December .. exactly 10 years after the tsunami.

Kamala Beach, 28th December

Walking Street Market, Phuket Town, January 4th

Ya Nui Beach, 11th January

Walking to Tone Pariwat waterfall, 25th January

At Koh Panyee, Phang Nga Bay, 7th February

Cape Panwa, 21st February

In old Phuket Town, 8th March

Looking across Karon Beach, 9th March

Rawai Beach, 28th March

Ratchapruek flowers bloom in the hot season, 7th April

Patong Beach, 17th April

Racha Yai Island, 30th April

Yeh, Phuket is a good place to live! It's now mid May, kids have gone back to school this week to start their new school year. We just had a 10 day break from Phuket, a little holiday. I am heading back to the dive shop on Monday 17th. Normal life resumes! I do live in a beautiful place, but daily life is quite similar to anywhere else - work, school, cleaning up, shopping, fixing things, paying bills, waiting for the next holiday!

Hope to see you on Twitter and on the Jamie's Phuket Blog.

Let's see what the low season brings ...