Phuket Weather Blog

Chinese New Year Weather in Phuket

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:36:00 +0000

The busy tourist season continues in Phuket! I think I had a day off somewhere last weekend, but it's all a blur really ... The weather? Pretty much perfect all week. I mean, it's January, high season and (on average) the 2nd driest month of the year after February. I could write a one word blog entry for January 19th - 26th: Nice. But it's not so simple! Weather had been good last week save for a few drips of rain. Last Saturday I was looking forward to a day off in the sun. We planned a drive off Phuket to some waterfalls in Phang Nga. Unfortunately, Saturday (my only day off) did not play ball. As we left home, skies were darkening. OK, not to worry, rain is normally very localised, we're heading north, the skies will be blue!

WRONG! We drove north through heavy rain, and although the rain eased, there was plenty of dark cloud to the east as we crossed the Sarasin Bridge... we decided against waterfalls and explored some back roads near the bridge and visited the 360 Degree Cafe just a few km over the other side of the bridge.

(above) Wet drive on January 21st

We stopped to buy some pineapples. Just over the Phang Nga side of the bridge on the northbound side of the road you can see this:

And in the evening, we headed into Phuket Town for a walk. Thalang Road in the old town was strung with lanterns for Chinese New Year...

Chinese New Year was on January 23rd. It's now the year of the Dragon, which is very symbolic for Phuket. The Chinese belief is that Phuket island is a sea dragon called Hai Long Eng. On the 23rd in the night there was a big Chinese New Year event at Sanam Chai, a park in the north of Phuket Town near the government offices. We went to have a look ...

Weather was dry again, and the evening air a little cool (in Phuket terms, about 24 degrees C is cool!). At lunchtime on the 25th, I took a quick walk to Karon Beach - it was HOT and quite crowded at the beach. Most tourists like to sit in the sun and get burned in the middle of the day. I prefer late afternoon, not so hot.

And now the amazing news ... all this sun, perfect days... and yeh, some rain on Saturday and some rain in the night a few times. January is normally drier than this, and according to my rain gauge this is the wettest January since at least 1999 (I have data back to 1999)! How can it be the wettest when the weather is this good? It only takes a few heavy showers .. even if most of the month is sunny.

The Chalong Temple Fair started a couple of days ago, and runs until 29th January, well worth a visit if you are here. I have stopped there at Chalong Temple on the way home from work the last 2 nights...

Also this week - the Phuket Local Food Fair is on until 29th January, you can find this at Sapan Hin, in the south of Phuket Town. AND the Phuket Old Town Festival happens from 28th - 30th January. We'll be heading into town on Saturday 28th for sure .. maybe Sunday too .. and Monday! Always lots of things going on in Phuket! I have another day off on Saturday - sun, please!

January in Phuket

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:36:00 +0000

At this time of year, just a summary of the week's weather is enough. Phuket in January - if you get bad weather you are very very unlucky! On average, January and February are the driest months. We have had some light rain. Actually, my rain gauge told me that 20mm fell on our house on the night of the 16th, though it went unnoticed by a sleeping family. Yesterday we even had some light rain during the day. No surprise really, the morning started very very hot.. heat causes water to evaporate, water vapour condenses at higher altitude (cooler temperature) and there's your rain. My home rain gauge said 10mm by the end of the day, nothing to write home about, but sometimes in high season I see shocked tourist faces when it rains ... OMG! Rain! Horror! The brochure said sun!

Yeh, we got sun, too. On Sunday I just caught the sunset at Kata Beach. Sunset is a bit before 6:30pm right now. Sunrise like 6:45am, meaning that on a school day, with the alarm set for 6am, we're waking up in the dark for early morning coffee before waking the kids. Anyway .. I took a few photos on Sunday. Nice.

Yeh, it was nice. I want to be on holiday in Phuket! For me right now, it's high season, busy in the dive shop (Sunrise Divers Phuket)... a day off is a luxury! Actually, a 15 minute walk on the beach at sunset is a luxury! Since Sunday, I have been in the dive shop until 7pm each day, so no more sunsets .. It has been hot, lots of blue skies, lots of sun, the winds have dropped. I reckon I might have to squeeze in a dive trip next week sometime!

Last photo - I took it this afternoon - there is a small Chinese shrine just outside our dive shop in Karon Place, just a few minutes walk from Karon Beach ...

I saw the last rays of sun shining onto the face of the statue.. It's Chinese New Year on 23rd January. Some events coming up include the Chalong Temple Fair from 23rd - 29th January and the Phuket Old Town Festival from 28th - 30th.

More sun please!

What's the weather like in Phuket in January?

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:40:00 +0000

Having just blogged a review of Phuket Weather 2011, it's time to blog about the weather now - January in Phuket is generally quite dry, it's peak season for tourism too. Average rainfall in January is just over 30mm for the whole month, it's the second driest month on average after February. Well we've actually exceeded the average already according to my rain gauge - had some rain in the night on the 1st and again on the 7th, plus a bit yesterday and today. But aside from a few showers, and most of that in the night, January so far has been fabulous!

Yeh, there was rain in the night on Saturday (7th) but the day - excellent... hot and sunny with blue skies, perfect! Our kids had a maths class, so my wife and I took a little drive into Phuket Town to drop off a laptop for repair and then on the way back through town, my wife asked "have you ever been to this temple?" ... and somehow despite the fact that I like to blog lots of Phuket temples, I found myself at a new place, and WoW!

(above) Khao Rang Temple in Phuket Town

Later on we headed for a late lunch at a favourite restaurant on the beach at Cape Panwa, south of Phuket Town. Perfect afternoon :)

Every other day since then at work, but if you Follow me on Twitter, there are (almost) daily weather Tweets ...

8th January "hot and sunny with clear blue skies again :)"

9th January "Phuket weather this morning - yes, sunny again :) Enjoy the day, everyone!"

10th January "It's another lovely sunny morning in Phuket :)"

11th January "Yes, another sunny day in Phuket"

The Tweets don't lie, it has been a beautiful week until today which was grey with some rain. Quite nice to have a cooler day for us locals.

Coming up soon .. advance notice... 23 - 29 January is the Chalong Temple Fair, well worth a visit. And 28 - 30 January the Phuket Old Town Festival. These events are mostly in the evening. Just in case it's not obvious... Chalong Temple Fair takes place at Chalong Temple and the Old Town Festival takes place in Old Phuket Town.

Phuket Weather Review 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 12:08:00 +0000

If this was a blog about Thailand weather, then the word of the year would be FLOODS. There were big floods in March, mostly on the east coast centered around Surat Thani, Nakhorn Sri Thammarat, Songkhla, also Chumphon, Krabi ... And at the same time there was drought in the Northeast of Thailand! Phuket was not affected so much - some small floods here and there, but nothing that lasted more than a day or 2 and nothing serious. March had actually started very hot and sunny - I recorded rainfall on only 6 out of the first 20 days. But the last 11 days were different! We sure did have some heavy rain. I have rain data back to 1999, and we had way more rain in March 2011 than any previous year. More than 400mm recorded - the average is not much more than 100mm.

Here's the 2011 Phuket Rainfall Chart...

As you can see, March (month 3 in case you didn't know) sticks out a mile! January and February pretty dry although January was wetter than normal thanks to a 5 day rainy period in mid-month when most of the monthly rain fell. Most of that was in the night, the days were all blue skies and sunshine :)

April and May both had less rain than average. April was of course very hot as usual. I escaped Phuket for a while and headed to the east coast town of Chumphon for Songkran. Very hot there too, but a bit of cold water will cure that!

June and July, fairly normal, some rain, some sun, I actually like these months, despite a bit of rain there are also lots of sunny days. In July 2011 for example, only 12 days had rain, meaning 19 were dry. And even the rainy days are not normally rainy all day. A bit of rain doesn't hurt! We had a lovely day in June at the Splash Jungle Waterpark. It was sunny, then it rained, then the sun came out again, then it rained some more ...

August was quite a bit wetter than normal, but again the total rainfall of 441mm does not tell the whole story. In the first 18 days, only 2 days had any rain, with just 27mm falling. The end of the month was wet though! At the end of August I wrote on the blog "Tuesday morning and it's sunny! That's not really news, except I've not really seen any sun since last Tuesday!" - gotta take the rough with the smooth in low season! There were again some minor floods here and there but nothing to panic about.

September was average, certainly one of the wetter months in Phuket. 12 dry days in September 2011, but again please remember that a "wet day" does not mean "wet ALL day". Rain can fall in the night, can fall in a quick heavy shower or there may be some grey drizzly days. The photo below was taken on 22nd September at Kata Beach:

Worst period of 2011? The first 11 days of October. More than 500mm rain recorded at my house in that time. We can live with that, no floods at our house. Unfortunately it was when my parents were here from England! We still managed plenty of activity but put off some trips like Khao Sok and Phang Nga Bay. Rain does not last all day, but heading out on a longtail boat on those days did not appeal. The weather changed pretty much as my Mum and Dad left! The last day of their holiday was October 12th and we headed to Ya Nui Beach ...

And on the day they flew out, the 13th - lovely sunny day! In October, the word FLOODS! came back. Not in the south of Thailand this time... Lots of rain in central Thailand especially around Ayuthaya, north of Bangkok. And it was bad, and got worse and the floods headed down river to the capital. In Phuket? Nothing. November was nice. December was better. Sure we get some rain. Can rain any time, hopefully not like March 2011, but in high season some tourists are surprised to get rain. "The brochure said sun". But please realise that Phuket is in a tropical area. See all the green trees and green hills? They need rain. There is not a weather god turning off the tap on November 1st. Whatever time of year you come, you do have to be lucky with the weather. Sure, you can read the averages, and I can be fairly sure that January will be nicer than August, but you can get rain in January and you can get a week of unbroken sunny days in August.

On the left side of the page look for the "Weather Archives" drop down box - you can check all the posts on the Phuket weather blog back to 2006.

2012! Bring it on! By the way, weather now, January 2012 - very nice, thanks for asking - I will post an update in the next couple of days. In the meantime, please do join the Jamie's Phuket Blog Facebook Page! And if you are coming to Phuket soon, please do check the Phuket Hotels at Agoda.com :)

Happy New Year from the Phuket Weather Blog!

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 16:30:00 +0000

Just a quick update... Weather in Phuket - hot and sunny with hardly any wind. It was a bit windy around Christmas but that has gone now. We did have a rather grey New Years Day, but New Years Eve was perfect. Our family (11 people) headed to Cape Panwa, a restaurant called The Beach Bar for New Years dinner and party. Good food, all the family, football on the beach, and fireworks too!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

If you enjoy this blog, please do join the Phuket Blog page on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter.. and check the "Jamie's Phuket" Blog which (just like this one) has been online since 2006 :)

The photo above was taken on New Years Eve. A "Kom Fai" lantern drifts up into the sky, the moon just about peeping out from the clouds. It did not rain, but the clouds did come in, and January 1st was rather cloudy all day. We took a drive over the Sarasin Bridge to Phang Nga province, and had prebooked lunch at Samchong Seafood restaurant. Weather was not the best, so we decided against a boat ride out to Koh Panyee and James Bond Island. Just enjoyed lunch in a quiet local environment ...

I was working yesterday, had a day off today (3rd January) and the weather today was HOT HOT HOT, enough to give me some nice red skin after working around our house. Yesterday started very wet actually, but the afternoon was nice. No major rain here, but in case anyone is reading the news, there is some flooding on the east coast of Thailand, especially in Chumphon and Surat Thani provinces. Nothing *too* serious .. but my wife's family live in Chumphon and their drive home from Phuket yesterday took 11 hours. Normally would take about 5 or 6 hours. Here in Phuket, no rain, hot, sunny. And long may it continue! Perfect weather. See you soon!

Christmas in Phuket

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 14:12:00 +0000

Christmas means many things, has more meaning for some people than others, and for an Englishman in Thailand with lots of childhood Christmas memories I find it a very odd time of year. Christmas in Thailand is not quite the same as back home - hardly anyone does the decorations, the shops are not playing Slade, there is no double Christmas issue of the Radio Times (and I am told this no longer exists in England either). And the weather is a little bit different too!

What's the weather being doing during this festive season? Guess what.. hot and sunny pretty much all the time. A quick look at some of my "Tweets" last week...

20th December: Skies clearing nicely in Phuket .. going to be yet another hot, sunny, beautiful day. Probably.

21st December: This morning's weather in Phuket. Sunny

22nd December: Gonna be a hot one.

and then ... Having a nice afternoon shower now, first heavy rain I've seen for quite a few days... it'll only last 20 minutes.

23rd December: It's a perfect sunny morning with blue skies all around. Christmas weather :)

24th December: Not a really sunny in Phuket. A bit sunny, a bit cloudy

And it got windy for a few days too! Strong east wind blowing from the 24th to 27th, it's calmed down now.

25th December - Christmas Day! We closed the dive shop for a day. It's a family day. We did family things, the kids got presents under the tree. We went out, did stuff, and went out again in the afternoon for dinner at The Beach Bar. A beautiful evening.

Some photos ... Christmas Day in Phuket :

The wind continued a couple more days, no rain until a brief downpour this evening (29th). You don't normally get much rain at this time of year, a few showers is normal. Weather is just about perfect right now! I have been very very busy in the dive shop (Sunrise Divers) the last few days and that will continue through the first week of January. This is the peak of high season, although the weather stays this way for a few more months. And it gets hotter! Anytime anyone asks me "when is the best time to come to Phuket?" .. I say NOW! My favourite time of year is January to December :)

Yes, it's still hot and sunny in Phuket!

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 15:13:00 +0000

Quick summary for those with short attention spans: Weather is nice in Phuket right now and has been nice for the last week with a couple of little showers of rain, but otherwise sunny, hot, lovely. As you'd expect from a "beach holiday destination" in peak season. And it certainly is peak season. Just a few days from CHRISTMAS! Or XMAS if you wish to be a bit anti-religious and forget the "Christ" part.

Anyway.. this is Thailand. we're not really into Christmas here, although a pretty tree and (of course) presents are quite commonly seen. Any excuse for a party! Thai people will adopt lots of holidays if it means having fun :) - After Christmas we have New Year, and then later in January, Chinese New Year .. and then in April is the traditional Thai New Year (Songkran). Lots of holidays - an advantage of living in a multi-ethnic society :)

Anyways, right now it's the peak of high season, being that lots of people like to travel around Christmas, escaping harsh winters and looking for the sun. We do get some rain sometimes in December .. in fact last year we had quite a lot. This year December has been all but dry so far, a few quick showers, but mostly sunny days ending with beautiful sunsets...

(above) Sunset at Karon Beach, 13th December

Peak season also means that I am very busy, working 6 days a week, not really much time for blogging or exploring or going out to take photos. One day off per week - sometimes we go and do something new, or eat out .. sometimes it's a family day. Last Saturday we had a kids football competition which our 6 year old boy was taking part in - his first "real game". A Bl**dy hot day for kids to be running around a field! 6 year olds play their own version of football, generally involving all of them chasing the ball, tackling their own team, bumping into each other and mis-kicking then falling over. There was lots of that and plenty of good natured fun and laughter from the watching parents! There were some moments of football magic, though and I enjoyed using my 300mm zoom lens!

After the football we headed to Cape Panwa for dinner at The Beach Bar. After that hot day, a bit of rain and thunder was in the air. We only got some light rain, but could see the rain dashing across Chalong Bay from the east, so I am sure some people got soaked. The sun tried to peep through, the light was great.. A couple of views from my seat ....

Please do follow me on Twitter for (almost) daily mentions of the weather in Phuket. I also post photos and lots more on the Phuket Blog page on Facebook. See you there! Not sure if this blog will be updated again before Christmas, so whether or not you are a practicing Christian, I wish you a Merry Christmas from sunny Phuket :)

High Season Weather

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 13:57:00 +0000

This evening (12th December) is just how I like it. If you live here, you can notice the changing seasons. This is the "winter" although of course we don't get snow, or frost .. temperatures in the night can drop to a chilly 22 degrees C, although more often about 24 - 25. Combined with the northeast wind, the night can feel cool, no need for aircon. And early morning, the air does have a certain crispness. It's less humid than normal, as the northeast wind is fairly dry. So the hot days don't feel so hot, and the nights are cooler. A great time to be in Phuket :)

The stupid online forecasts are still saying "chance of a thunderstorm", but that chance gets less as we move from December to January. The 3 "winter" months (December, January and February) are the driest months (see Phuket Rain Averages). So it's no surprise that this is high season! Have been busy in the dive shop, and somehow more than a week has slipped by since the last Phuket weather blog entry, sorry ' bout that!

Not been out and about with the camera either. Last couple of weekends have been very much easy family days, parties at friends house, or parties at our house! Not really been anywhere much. It's that time of year - 6 days a week in the dive shop, next holiday will be end of April! Anyone who wants to dive or try diving, contact me at Sunrise Divers!

Writing a decent blog entry takes a bit of time and concentration. BUT, if there is nothing new on this page, try following me on Twitter or join/like the "Jamie's Phuket" Facebook Page which tends to get something added (almost) daily.

Today I "tweeted" this photo:

I took a little walk along Karon Beach. It was very busy! Sun worshippers everywhere, the beach masseurs were busy, the sky was blue and the sea was blue too. Easy to see why many Phuket tourists don't do much more than sunbathe, drink beer, eat Tom Yum and maybe take a tour or two. We're all different, but I can't do "nothing" for more than a day. Phuket has so much more than beaches, part of the reason why I started the Jamie's Phuket blog more than 5 years ago!

I took another picture at Karon Beach today. Not sure why a sign like this is needed.

There has been a little rain in the last 10 days, but very little. Heaviest was last night, a sudden shower with strong winds around our house near Phuket Town, no problem except we were trying to have a BBQ at the time! Only lasted 20 minutes. And then the air was much fresher.

My favourite photo from the last week....

Photo taken by Dawn at the Bon Island Restaurant on Saturday.

Have a good week! I can pretty much be sure we'll have one here in Phuket!

High Season - Losing Track of Time

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 12:55:00 +0000

I could swear I last updated the Phuket weather blog just a few days ago, but actually the last update was a week ago. And really the weather has stayed just about the same. Hot, sunny, some evening dark clouds and thunder on some days. Just about nothing of note to write about! Of course I am thinking from my perspective. These hot days are normal for me. If you just arrived a couple of days ago from England or Sweden or Russia... the heat is going to hit you. If the temperature is 34 degrees C and it's humid, you're going to feel the heat. You have to drink plenty of water, get plenty of rest and you gotta love the aircon!

I certainly like my aircon... in the office at Sunrise Divers, it's nice and cool, and I find there are 2 types of tourists ... some enter the office with a big sigh of pleasure "Ooh! That's Nice!" - some enter and complain that it's cold. Had a German lady last year who opened the door and refused to enter until we turned off the aircon, fearful that she'd get sick. I hope she never walked into a 7-11. Some people don't get aircon. I like the heat, I like the sun, but I want to work in my office without sweating. Before coming here to Thailand, I lived in Utila, a small island off the coast of Honduras. At the time, there was no electricity from midnight to 6am. I lived in a house for a while in the jungle. If you went to bed after midnight - no fan. Best you could do was take a cold shower right before bed and leave the window open hoping for the faintest of breezes. I like aircon, OK?!

Suddenly it's almost the weekend again. Been busy in the dive shop, and when I'm busy, the days just blur together. Tomorrow is Friday already, meaning I have a day off coming up soon (Saturday). The last day off seems like just a couple of days ago, we decided on a drive up to the Big Buddha. Not been up there for ages. Weather was great. Skies were mostly blue. We've been driving up the hill to the Buddha since work started. Watched the statue taking shape, being covered in marble - and yes, we've written our names on marble squares that I guess are now somewhere on Buddha. The building continues although the main image is just about complete. And the views are always good.

(above) Big Buddha in Phuket, 26th November 2011

(above) View from the Big Buddha looking south. Phuket is a hilly place, and there are lots of great views around the island.

So, it's December already. A few days until the King's Birthday (December 5th) which is a public holiday here. Our kids will be off school, but of course I have to work. Happy 84th Birthday to His Majesty!

Follow me on Twitter for (almost) daily Phuket weather updates

Don't Believe Everything You See Online!

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 13:54:00 +0000

I do need to try and update this weather blog a bit more often, last update was 8 days ago and the weather had been mostly, more or less, just about perfect. Well, the weather for the last week has also been pretty darn good, not much of note to write about. A couple of evening or night thunderstorms, good to cool the air. Hot, hazy days. I have been a bit sick the last few days, not been out taking photos. Working hard in the dive shop, and had a family day off on Saturday without any excursion except to visit a nice little coffee shop in Phuket Town in the evening, I will take camera next time and "blog it".

Only pictures I took this week were in the morning on Tuesday. I had dropped my daughter at school at 7:45am. My wife had stayed home with our son (also sick), and since I don't need to really open the dive shop until 9am, I had time for a little walk. Drove down the road past Phuket zoo to Parlai Seafood, one of about half a dozen restaurants along the shoreline there. It's very quiet, a nice place for dinner. I took a walk along the pathway past all the restaurants to get some morning sun and morning exercise.

Finally, I just have to say - most online weather forecasts for Phuket are completely useless. Because at this time of year you can get thunderstorms now and then, online forecasts tend to show a thunderstorm symbol, meaning "chance of a thunderstorm". This is misleading. Most days are hot and sunny, and if there is a thunderstorm it might only last 30 minutes or 1 hour, and may be very localised. Phuket is a big place. It might be raining at Kata beach, but not at Bang Tao Beach. Crash, bang, boom at Kamala beach and nothing in Phuket Town. Basically, don't worry about the weather. You can check the current weather by using some of the links on the left side of the page (near the top) - the webcams and radar are useful... or follow me on Twitter where I normally write something about the weather every day. Or join the Jamie's Phuket Facebook Page where you can ask questions, and I also try to post something most days.

The weather in Phuket - Great!

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 00:38:00 +0000

As I write this on Wednesday morning, I can see nothing but blue skies, looks like another perfect day on the way. Come and get it! You can see those blue skies for yourself - just check the Karon Beach or Surin Beach webcams during Thai daylight hours which is from about 6am - 6:30pm. The webcams are still working at night, but even here in Phuket the sun does not shine at night :)

I am not suggesting that we get 24 hour sunshine in Phuket, but high season is well and truly here and the weather is great. I repeat for the umpteenth time - there is no flooding in Phuket or anywhere near Phuket. The weather has been great for the last month. The situation in Bangkok confuses me, but does not seem to be getting worse, and it is perfectly safe to fly into Bangkok, much of the city center is absolutely dry and open as normal. For latest updates I suggest you follow Richard Barrow on Twitter - he lives in Bangkok and is doing a lot of donkey work riding round the city taking photos and reporting the latest flood news.

Back to Phuket ... last weather blog update was 9th November. The day after was Loy Krathong, a well known Thai festival giving thanks for water and casting off bad luck but floating a "Krathong" on any nearby available body of water, or by setting off a paper lantern into the night sky. We did both and the weather was great all day. There are big parties and events for Loy Krathong around Phuket, but we went somewhere quiet, a small restaurant on the beach.

The great weather continued into the weekend. Hot sunny days. With all that heat we sometimes get thunderstorms. This is a tropical region. Thunderstorms happen, but usually last maybe an hour, maybe less. When you look at online weather forecasts for Phuket, they tend to say "thunderstorm". I hate this - I am sure some people believe it's non stop storms, whereas that little thunderstorm symbol means "chance of a thunderstorm". And we get them maybe every other day, and thunderstorms can be very localised. It might rain and spit thunder at Kata beach, and be sunny and dry at Bang Tao Beach for example...

Sunday night I was at home and could hear a big thunderstorm brewing. Checked the weather radar and could see a big storm sitting on the south of Phuket. Never really reached our house but friends around Kata and Chalong reported a very exciting storm, and one friend's roof was hit by lightning!

Back to Saturday - which was a lovely sunny day and we just made it to The Beach Bar in time for sunset....

Perfect day. Ignore the online rubbish forecasts. The true weather in Phuket right now is hot and sunny, maybe a thunderstorm in the evening, even a slim chance of rain. November does have rain, so does December. High season does not mean the weather gods have turned the tap off. It's possible to have bad weather in high season, just as we can get very nice weather in low season. It's the weather, and my advice is "Don't Worry"!

Sunburn and Showers

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 13:35:00 +0000

First off, there are no floods in Phuket, or anywhere within about 800km of here. The Thai floods in the last couple of months have affected some areas in the north of Thailand, central Thailand, and as the waters moved downstream, areas in and around Bangkok has been affected. Could last a while yet. It's not like all of Bangkok is flooded, you can stay in Bangkok, the airport (Suvarnabhumi) is open and operating normally. Not very nice for people who are affected of course. The floods will pass, and in Ayutthaya the clean up is underway and factories are getting re-opened. Richard Barrows website has updates on the flood situation.

What about Phuket? Well, we had been having some perfect weather at the end of October. Not much rain except for evening or nighttime thunderstorms, which is normal for the time of year, as the low season winds stop blowing. Heat builds up during the day and you need a nice thunderstorm to cool off. This weather has continued during the last week. Please note when you see the *thunderstorm* symbol on a weather forecast, it does not mean you'll have a wet day. This is tropical weather, and a quick rainstorm is normal. Rain might last 20 minutes, or 30, maybe even an hour.

The photo below was taken a few days ago by Dawn who runs the restaurant at Bon Island. I think this sums up the weather at this time of year - calm clear sea, sunshine and an approaching mass of dark cloud. Then a brief heavy downpour and probably the sun will burn through again.

It's been hot for the last few days, which is not really a surprise in Phuket. Don't be fooled by a few clouds and some thunderstorms. You can still get sunburn (even in a thunderstorm!). Weather is good. The sea has been very calm, great for diving or anything on the water. And officially it's high season now - November. I have been very very busy in the dive shop in the last week. Not much time (or energy) for blogging, though I do try to update the "micro blogs" - please do join the Phuket Page on Facebook, or Follow me on Twitter for regular/daily updates of Phuket news and weather.

We have noticed bookings dropping off in the last week as news, accurate or not, from Bangkok heads out into the international media. I saw a photo on Twitter last week (sorry, can't find the photo now) showing a news crew shooting in a puddle on an otherwise dry road. Be careful what you believe (unless I'm saying it, then its guaranteed cast iron truth)! Check this report on csmonitor.com. Quote "Thailand's devastating flood has made for countless memorable images. But some journalists appear to be staging their own scenes without disclosing that to viewers, undermining the purpose of journalism."

With that in mind... this morning I stopped to take a few quick photos at Kata Beach. Not so many people around at 9am. Sky was blue, clouds just a few, small waves tinkling on the sand. Perfect!

(above) A pretty damn nice morning at Kata Beach, Phuket

Perfect? Photos can indeed be misleading, should the photographer wish to mislead, and should the viewer be inclined to believe everything... Actually it was quite a nice morning, but as I was facing the ocean, dark clouds were behind me. So I turned 180 degrees and took the next photo just a few seconds after the perfect blue sky picture.....

Looking away from the sea, a row of beach chairs, trees and what's that? Dark skies? Clouds? Chance of rain? See, I could have just shown the first photo and everyone would believe it was a perfect day. Well, the day was good, but Phuket does have clouds and rain. If we did not, Phuket would be a desert rather than a very green tropical land.

Tomorrow is Loy Kratong, one of Thailand's most famous festivals. It's bigger in the north of Thailand, but Phuket has a lot going on tomorrow night. We will be heading to a quiet beach to float our kratong and maybe to launch a lantern too. The Phuket Gazette has a guide to what's on in Phuket for Loy Kratong. And since it's Loy Kratong, here's a photo I took a few years ago :

Happy Loy Kratong! If you are in Phuket well there are big celebrations at Patong, Karon, Chalong Bay and more. We will try to close up the dive shop a little early tomorrow so we can all enjoy the evening with our families. And it better not rain!

More great weather - see you in Phuket!

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 00:35:00 +0000

Since the last Phuket weather blog update, we have actually had a tiny bit of rain. Must have had more than a few mm yesterday at Karon beach where I was working, but my rain gauge at home (near Phuket Town) said 2mm. Saturday also had some scattered showers, but nothing much, and (see below) we drove around and found plenty of sun. This morning (Monday) - looks perfect as I write this at 7:30am.

What is the "situation" in Phuket? People keep asking me pretty much the same question on Twitter or Facebook. There is NO situation here. Weather is great, there is no flooding or bad weather. The nearest floods are around Bangkok, some 800km from here. Would you cancel a ski trip to the Alps because of floods in Paris? Same kind of distance. Also - TV images don't tell the whole story. There is flooding around Bangkok but not much in the center, and the airport is operating 100% normally. As far as a trip to Phuket is concerned, there is nothing to worry about. I had customers at our dive shop on Friday. They were staying in Hua Hin, they had to drive into Bangkok, get a flight to Phuket.. they were worried... and had absolutely no problems. It's high season now, weather is sweet, fish are jumpin' and cotton is high.

Here's a photo from last week, Thursday 27th in the morning at Karon Beach:

The great weather lasted the whole week. I normally take Saturday off work, and was concerned this Saturday. Just as we were getting ready to go out, the wind blew stronger, dark clouds gathered all around... what the? Might be enough to put off a timid soul, but we know the weather here is quite localised, and we planned to drive north, off Phuket over the bridge to Phang Nga province. Drove through some rain, but found the sun. We explored a side road just after the bridge that heads to Natai Beach, where you find some big houses and some hotels .. and a beach.

Photo above at the Hot Spring Resort which looks like a nice place to stay well away from the crowds.

We then had a huge lunch at Samchong Seafood in Phang Nga.. its about 20km from the bridge on the way to Phang Nga town. The restaurant is floating in a wide mangrove canal with a small muslim fishing village on the opposite shore. Longtail boats cross back and forth every few minutes. You can also hire boats here to get out into Phang Nga Bay.

And then? Despite a huge lunch, there's always room for coffee and a cake! Only a few km from Sarasin bridge on the east side of the road, up a small hill is 360 Degree Coffee. Nice place, very popular with locals at the weekend. And on Saturdays they have a huge crane in operation that lifts up a "viewpod" high above the cafe. Here's the view looking towards Phuket:

Let's see if I have a few spare minutes to take a photo today! But trust me, it's beautiful weather right now. Anyone worried about floods or weather - there is nothing to worry about. See you in Phuket!

Sun and only sun. Certainly no floods.

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 00:19:00 +0000

I do apologise, did not realise it had been 10 days since updating the weather blog... although on this page you do have tools to check the live weather - such as the live webcam at Karon Beach and another live webcam at Surin Beach. You can also follow me on Twitter, or join the Jamie's Phuket Facebook Page for pretty much daily updates on weather and more.

The last update said that the seasons seemed to have changed. It was really quite a sudden switch from wet (until 11th October), then a day on the 12th which was sunshine and showers and then suddenly the 13th was all blue skies, and it has continued the same way for the last 12 days! We've actually had 70mm rain since the 16th, but that has almost all been in the night, with a few big ol' thunderstorms rattling the windows and scaring the cats. The days have been almost totally hot and sunny. I have been back at work and working hard at our dive shop (Sunrise Divers) and somehow did not get my camera out and take any photos for more than 10 days! You can take my word for it that it was all sunny, or check this Phuket page on Facebook where many different people have posted photos over the last 10 days showing blue skies, beaches, calm seas - perfect weather!

Of course many people will have seen TV pictures of flooding in Thailand. Started looking bad a couple of weeks ago already in central Thailand, north of Bangkok, and seems the floods may continue for a few weeks - Bangkok is being affected now. This in turn is having some effect on the whole economy, transport and production of some goods. Hope it won't last too long. Some questions have been asked about supplies getting to Phuket. Well, I have not seen any shortages of anything, though in the coming weeks we may have to be slightly flexible. Phuket and the South of Thailand are unaffected by floods, and don't forget Phuket has an airport and is a port, so supplies are not such a worry here compared to a landlocked town in a flood zone! Weather her continues to be great, I am keeping an eye on the news in Bangkok.

(above) Got my camera out yesterday! This is Sri Sunthorn temple in the center of Phuket near the Heroines Monument. As you can see, was a sunny day. We went to say a prayer. I took Monday off work as it was the last day of the kids holidays - and we dragged them to a temple! Poor kids!

OK, later on we hit the beach too. Photo above taken at The Beach Bar, a favourite hangout of ours at Cape Panwa, south of Phuket Town. Kids like it there and I do like to watch the sunset while enjoying a cold beer. No crowds, no touts, no jet skis, no tailors, no beach chairs...

And now... back to work! Will try to remember to take a nice beachy sunny photo today at Karon Beach. High season is here, lots of work to do and only 59 shopping days until Christmas!

Very Wet and then Very Sunny!

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 04:07:00 +0000

Starting with the good news. In my opinion, low season is finished. There is no more rain in the sky, it's all down here on earth. The last 3 days have been hot and sunny with no rain, and the winds have stopped too. Pretty much perfect weather. Also, please note, THERE ARE NO FLOODS IN PHUKET or anywhere near here. There is major flooding north of Bangkok especially around Ayutthaya, Pathum Thani and other central provinces. Bangkok seems to be OK, though a flood threat remains. The sun is out in Bangkok too now. For regular weather updates, follow me on Twitter or check one of the webcams - see links on the left of this page.

OK, so the weather now is great.. and now for a summary of the previous week, which was not so great! Last update on this blog was the 8th October, when I said "bloody raining again! But not too much and we're heading out to lunch soon". And we did head out for lunch.. drove into heavy rain, so just kept heading north hoping for a break in the clouds. Decided to check out a restaurant called Kin Dee which had been recommended. It's way up in the north of Phuket near the police checkpoint. And it's nice - a bit expensive for us, but what the hell, we're on holiday! And the rain did stop for a while, as it always does - don't let rain stop you heading out to explore, it can't rain everywhere at the same time!

On Sunday 9th the weather was much better. We lunched at Kruvit floating restaurant at Coconut island close to Laem Hin - holiday was a good time for trying new restaurants which will all be blogged on Jamie's Phuket sometime in the next weeks. The whole family enjoyed the little longtail boat ride over to the restaurant. We'll go there again sometime soon.

Monday 10th started very nice actually, and I was cursing being back at work! The rest of the family went for lunch at The Beach Bar. Look how nice it was!

And just when you thought the weather was getting better... It hammered down later on Monday and then Tuesday was incredibly wet. My home rain gauge recorded nearly 200mm of rain (8 inches) in about 36 hours! Still, only minor floods on a few roads in Phuket, nothing serious. Mum took this picture on the 11th near Phuket Town:

Wednesday - very changeable weather. The last spits of the rainy season? Anyway, quite a bit of rain, but with bursts of sunshine. I took a drive with Mum and Dad to Rawai beach and Yanui beach. Here's the folks at Rawai, we took a walk through the fishing village...

We could see black clouds to the west but the rain mostly missed us. We drove over to Yanui beach which I had not stopped at for a long time. Will go back again soon. Nice place. There's one small restaurant and we had a drink while the rain poured. Weather changed fast, the wind was still blowing strong on Wednesday. Nice and sunny in the photo below but the rain was hammering down 30 minutes later!

And now? It's all sunny, the weather does seem to be changing to "high season" mode. This does not mean 24 hour sun and no rain - you DO get rain in high season, but my feeling is that it's been so wet recently that we are surely in for a spell of very very nice weather now. I might even be tempted to go diving next week!

Well, it's not called the Rainy Season for nothing

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 04:09:00 +0000

It's not that often that I get depressed with the weather in Phuket. During the "rainy season" you get rain, sure. You can get rain in the high season too, rain does not bother me, as we normally get short, hard tropical downpours and then it's sunny again. Occasionally you get periods of a few days with hardly a glimpse of sun, but I have written before that the low season is generally a nice time to visit Phuket if your plans are flexible and you are not counting on sunning yourself on the beach. My parents have visited from England many times and normally in the low season. They were here in October 2010 and weather was OK, they have been in July with mostly good weather.. but this time, it really has been wet. We already changed plans due to a few wet days at the end of September, but things seemed to be getting better. The last blog update on 2nd October was positive - Sunday 2nd had been a hot sunny day and we'd been out in Phuket town for a vegetarian festival procession. We planned a trip to Khao Sok National Park for the next few days, but heard a weather warning on the Thai TV and the forecast did look wet and windy. I hate to change plans, but since Khao Sok was likely to be wetter than Phuket, we decided not to go.

Good plan! The night of 2nd October was VERY Wet and so was most of the 3rd. A stay at home kind of day. Never mind, we thought.. won't last more than a day or 2.

(above) Rainy day at home, 3rd October.

It did clear in the evening, enough for us to take a walk at the nearby Bang Wad reservoir and we decided to check out an evening event at Sam Kong shrine in the north of Phuket Town - something called "Bladed Ladder Climbing", part of the Phuket Vegetarian Festival. I did not take a camera along, but it was less crowded than I thought it would be - will go again next year.

October 4th - started dry, sky cleared, and it was hot already at about 7am. Yes, we were up that early - earlier in fact ... We went to Kathu shrine just after 6am for the start of their Vegetarian Festival street procession. The sun was rising as the Ma Song got pierced in the shrine and as the procession left Kathu for the walk to Phuket Town. Well worth getting up early sometimes!

BUT whadaya know... not long afterwards, the rain started up again. We did not head into Phuket Town, were home by about 7:30am. And it turned into a very wet day. We did head into old Phuket Town for lunch.. in the rain.. dodging under the archways on Thalang Road, darting out into the rain before landing at the Kopitiam restaurant for tasty vegetarian food. Even on a wet day you can wander in the old town, just take an umbrella!

(above) Wet day on Thalang Road, old Phuket (4th October)

Thought about doing our Khao Sok trip on the 5th, having had 250mm of rain in the previous 3 days.. but the rain continued into a 4th wet day. Some minor floods here and there in Phuket though I did not see any myself. Certainly flooding in some parts of Thailand, especially the north. A friend in Khao Lak said it was wetter than Phuket, so we decided again to forget Khao Sok. A mostly hiding-from-the-rain day, except in the evening, despite a light drizzle falling we headed to Kathu village for a ceremony called "Bridge Crossing for Purification". Basically the whole population was there, dressed in white, queuing for a quarter mile to enter the shrine and cross a ceremonial wooden bridge and be blessed by the Ma Song.

(above) Waiting in the rain for purification

The last 2 days have been almost dry! Even got a red face from the sun yesterday enjoying an hour in the pool with my kids (not our pool. we're not that rich!). We have been out lunching around the island - a huge lunch at Laem Hin Seafood on Thursday 6th - some photos on the Jamie's Phuket Facebook Page.

Yesterday also nice and sunny for a lunch at Cape Phromthep restaurant which we had never tried before. Great views and we'll be back.. it will be "blogged" sometime soon. In the evening I took Mum and Dad for a stroll in Phuket Town, along Thalang Road. I want to go again and get more evening photos, it's a very nice place for a walk.

(above) Cape Promthep Restaurant

(above) Old Phuket Town in the evening (7th October)

Today (8th) - bloody raining again! But not too much and we're heading out to lunch soon. Can't stop the rain, and the rain can't stop us!!

Rain, Sun and the Vegetarian Festival!

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 15:00:00 +0000

The weather always seems to change just when I update this weather blog! Last week I said "The weather this week has been mostly very good. Hardly any rain except for some afternoon showers here and there. Hoping this weather continues!" - that was on September 25th (Sunday). The Phuket Vegetarian Festival started on Monday 26th. The weather did not continue! Just as I started my holidays on the 26th, the rain came again. Well, started on the 25th in the night, more than 50mm of rain, then showers on the 26th. So, what to do on a rainy day? We visited the Phuket Tin Mining Museum, which is very good. The photo below was taken from the car on the way home...

And then in the afternoon was the opening ceremony of the Phuket Vegetarian Festival. We went to Kathu shrine, our local - Kathu is between Patong Beach and Phuket Town. The weather? Well not perfect, it did rain, but we sheltered in the shrine and I took lots of photos.

Weather on 26th:

In the shrine:

More about the opening day of the festival on the Phuket Blog: Phuket Vegetarian Festival 2011, Part 1.

27th was wet and the 28th was also rather wet - and we visited yet another museum! The Thai Hua School Museum which has been expanded since my last visit and is well worth a look.

(above) at Thai Hua School Museum - my Mum is teaching my kids :)

And then on the 28th in the evening - a walk in Phuket Town along the market street to Jui Tui shrine. Lots of people, no rain, streets packed with vegetarian food stalls. Took lots of photos that should become a blog page ...

29th - weather getting better and a nice afternoon out walking across the new bridge between Phuket and Phang Nga, with lunch at Thanoon Seafood, which is a restaurant just over the bridge on the Phang Nga side. Here's me and my Dad on the bridge:

(above) Nice weather on the 29th September!

In the evening we were in Kathu village for a street procession from the shrine around the village to pay respects to the birth and death gods.

(above) in Kathu village 29th September. More photos here.

Early morning on the last morning of the month of September... I was at Sam Kong shrine in the north of Phuket Town not long after 6am for some vegetarian festival fun! If you can call this fun!

Sorry, should have warned you! Will make a blog page with lots of festival photos on Jamie's Phuket later. Weather was good and has been good the first couple of days of October too. And this morning (2nd October) was a good one! Hot and sunny - maybe too hot! I was in Phuket Town for a street procession, part of the Phuket vegetarian festival. The processions were on every day 28th September and end 5th October. Today's procession was around town from Bang Neow shrine. Hot morning.

But some rain has come again this evening and the forecast is not good for the next 2 days. We had planned a trip to Khao Sok tomorrow but will delay a couple of days. See what the weather decides to do.... hard to tell at this time of year - it helps to be a bit flexible! Let's see what happens! Anyway, rain or shine, we'll be happy!

It's all sunny again (well, mostly)

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 14:54:00 +0000

This will be quite a quick Phuket weather update - it's 10pm on Sunday and my parents are visiting from England, so don't want to be too long on the 'puter. The weather this week has been mostly very good. Hardly any rain except for some afternoon showers here and there (I mean, maybe there were harder showers in some parts of the island, but I hardly saw any). Hoping this weather continues! Mum and Dad arrived on Friday evening, and although I was working today, holidays start tomorrow... and where will we be going on holiday? Phuket! Of course, I know the weather is not perfect at this time of year. But we have little choice about when to take the holiday - kids school is off until the last week of October. I do find that low season weather is never that bad once you're out and about. Rain looks worse through a window, and it's rare that we get terrible weather. So I look forward to our holiday!

A quick look back to a few days ago - On Thursday 22nd September I stopped at Kata Beach before going to the dive shop. The weather was like this all day - beautiful blue skies, perfect weather. Low season has quite a lot of this if you are lucky :)

It's not all been quite so perfect all week, but pretty damn good! Yesterday despite the jet lag we all headed out for some exploration - nothing too much on the first day, though. Started at Koh Sirey Temple on a hill to the east of Phuket Town. Sirey has been tarted up a bit recently. The mangroves hide lots of monkeys and a "Monkey Seeing" area has been made.. a bit dirty, but you do see monkeys - so many that there is need for warnings on the road :

And then after lunch at the ever popular Kaewjai restaurant near the bus station we visited an old mansion in the old part of Phuket Town - Chinpracha House has been turned into a museum, a chance to walk around an old house, part of Phuket's history. It's full of old photos, furniture and despite the heat outside, its cool inside. We'd been once before on a tour of Phuket Town, this time we spent a bit longer looking around.

Blue skies! More would be appreciated ... holidays start tomorrow and so does the Phuket Vegetarian Festival which runs from September 26th - October 6th. Tomorrow (Monday 26th) we'll go to Kathu Shrine for the ceremony that marks the start of the festival. We also plan a few days at Khao Sok National Park this week. Then back for the last few days of the festival. Also the Worldwide Photo Walk on 2nd October which has a Phuket walk planned around the old town with (I am sure) vegetarian festival photos being the main subject!

Partly sunny or partly cloudy?

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 11:57:00 +0000

Well, we're well into September now, which is often quoted as the wettest month in Phuket (although the averages that I have show October to be wetter) and sure we've had some rain. The last couple of updates on this blog are the same - some sun, some rain, very hit and miss weather (see updates from September 13th and 6th). There has certainly been nice weather, but you find at this time of year that things get very unsettled. This is normal for September. One day sunny, then next day you wake up to grey clouds. Or take today for example - looked a bit grim first thing in the morning. I Tweeted "looks like today will be less than lovely. Grey skies and quite breezy too", but then a little later it was sunny, and then mid afternoon, the rain was bucketing down - been raining most of the afternoon and evening actually. So tomorrow will probably be lovely!

Got lazy with my camera after taking nice photos on Tuesday last week... actually busy at work - a lot of the customers for our dive shop book online, so this time of year, a month or two before start of high season is busy, plus there are updates to make, I added a new boat onto the website... so here's another photo from last Tuesday.. this guy had come down to the water to enjoy the view, same as me.

The varying weather this week is demonstrated by what I write on Twitter - please do Follow me on Twitter for Phuket related news and blog updates.

September 15th : I can see black clouds and blue skies from my window...going to be another mixed bag today!

September 16th: Friday morning and looking like a sunny day in store here in Phuket. Some cloud around, but it's gonna be a nice day.

September 17th: I know that a hot day in Phuket is not news, but I tell you today is HOT!

Saturday 17th was a day off - and we were happy that one of our favourite restaurants was opening again after a few months low season hiatus. "The Beach Bar" at Cape Panwa is a small simple place right on the beach. We went late afternoon and despite some evening cloud we had a kind of sunset.. looking towards the Big Buddha.

Now of course I don't mind answering comments on this blog, or on Twitter or on the Facebook Page (please join!), but to save time - if the question is something along the lines of "what will the weather be like from September 24th - 29th, or October 3rd - 10th, or October 18th - 25th?" - answer is "Partly Sunny" with a little bit of "Partly Cloudy" and some rain. And then (on average) as we move to November and December there is less rain. I am not saying it won't rain in December, since the weather is not controlled and regulated. December 2010 was wetter than August 2010, even though "on average" August is much wetter. So, as I keep saying, don't worry too much about the weather. Ah now I can't resist it, gotta post some Bob Marley videos...

And Wet Again ... And Sunny Again!

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 13:03:00 +0000

In the low season (now) I do wish I had the time to update this Phuket weather blog daily, because you never know what the weather is going to do. If I write about a week of rain, whaddaya know.. we get a week of sun starting next day. Now last week was pretty sunny, I paid a nice evening visit to the Karon Temple Market last Tuesday, which had been a lovely sunny day. It did rain a bit in the night, but next morning I Tweeted "it's another absolutely gorgeous morning".. this continued into Thursday, another hot day, a few drips of rain in the night. Friday (9th September) was even hotter, and it was a day spent at home cleaning the house. We'd had a builder in for over a week, and everything was dusty, inside and outside. Spent a couple of hours outdoors and got a nice touch of sunburn on my back. And it was one of those incredible days when I was so busy actually doing real things that I did not turn on the computer all day. No Facebook, no blog, no Twitter.. for a whole day! Too busy to go anywhere and take photos too!

And then .. all change! The weekend came with rain. Saturday started wet, and the sun did not come out all day. The evening was just about dry enough for us to take a walk to the nearby street fair in Kathu (in the "Ket Ho" area). I did not take a camera, as I really thought it would rain.. some photos of the same street fair last year are on the Phuket blog: Kathu Street Fair 2010. Should have taken the camera because the next night (Sunday) really was very wet, and we had no chance to visit the fair, in fact I don't suppose many people did! Sunday was wetter than Saturday. And windy. The wind was very gusty. It howled around our house and I did not sleep too well!

Anyway, Monday started wet but got better. Dive trips had been cancelled based on Sunday's weather, and certainly the morning justified that. By Monday evening, the winds had gone, and YES! Today (Tuesday) the morning was slightly misty, but it was clear the mist would clear. It did. Beautiful morning. I took a detour to work via Chalong Bay. I drove down the road past the zoo to Parlai Seafood restaurant by the water. Realised we have not eaten here for years. Looks nice. Will go soon.

Chalong Bay is a different side of Phuket. By the sea but without endless hotels and tourists. Mostly just fishermen and boats and some restaurants.

The day was just about perfect - now, let's see what happens tomorrow! I am not predicting anything! Will update on Twitter. But tonight the wind has completely gone, its totally calm. Outside our house was so quiet. No wind, not even a single rustling leaf. Good sleeping weather.

Feel the Sun Shine In!

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 13:56:00 +0000

I seem to have allowed another week to slip by without updating the weather blog, and of course all has changed. We had a week (a WHOLE week) of wet days from the 23rd - 29th August .. terribly sorry if that coincided with your holidays, we'll do better next time. If your holiday started last Tuesday (31st August) then your story will be rather different to the visitors of the week before! It's been almost all sun and blue skies. The weather changed totally from one day to the next. It was wet, wet, wet, wet, SUNNY! All that rain at the end of August gave a total monthly rainfall of 440mm, which is pretty wet, especially considering almost all of that fell in the second half of the month.

But hey, it's all sunshine again now. So we're back to complaining about the heat. When the rain comes they run and hide their heads .. When the sun shines they slip into the shade. And it has suddenly been very hot. The sun-free days in a bizarre way(as a resident) can be quite nice - the temperature drops several degrees, the air is fresh... just sucks if your street floods. Well, that only lasted a day or so, not a big problem. I did not even see any flooding, it was very isolated.

Weekly updates are about all I can do for this blog, but if you need more frequent, up to the minute Phuket weather news, try these ideas:

1. Follow me on Twitter. I tend to mention the weather every day if I am online.

2. Check the webcams at Karon Beach or Surin Beach (both of which are in Phuket) - helps if you look during our daylight ours. We are like 6 (or is it 7?) hours ahead of Europe, and a heck of a lot more than that ahead of the USA, and we're a bit behind Oz.

You know it is actually nice to have changes in the weather. Last week at Sunrise Divers we had some customers from Saudi Arabia. Even our hot days are cool for them and the rainy days were like a miracle! Allahu Akbar! The sun feels wonderful after a week of rain. You don't miss the water 'til the well runs dry and you don't miss the sun 'til the well overflows!

It's the kind of week when you can't resist playing songs like "Sun is Shining" by Bob Marley, or "Mr Blue Sky" by ELO, or "Here Comes The Sun" by some group from Liverpool. And on the first sunny day, I did actually, literally go and stand in the road outside the dive shop and turn my face to the sun. Feel the sun.

Having been very lazy with the camera recently, trying to make up for that. I stopped yesterday (5th September) at Chalong Temple on the way home from work.

The last sun was hitting the temple before sinking over the hills to the west. Must try that again someday.

And today I stopped at Karon Temple for a little walk around the market that takes place in the temple grounds every Tuesday and Saturday. The evening sun was hitting the temple.. the market is busier after dark. I will pass by again another day and get more photos.

(above) Monk at Karon temple, 6th September.

Forecast: 2-0 to England and more sunny weather in Phuket!

Enough rain, thank you!

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 14:16:00 +0000

Tuesday morning and it's sunny! That's not really news, except I've not really seen any sun since last Tuesday! The last update on the weather blog mentioned that we had a bit more rain that week, having had a really dry start to August. Well, it was on August 23rd that I took this photo :

The sun set with glorious colour, but as I drove home the rain started. It rained pretty hard that night, I measured 58mm of rain, but Wednesday 24th was wetter, with over 100mm, and Thursday had 75mm. I guess August decided it did not want to be below average! It's been a real month of 2 halves.. the first half of August I measured 27mm of rain. And in the last 10 days, more than 400mm!

The local news websites told of a man who had touched a live electric socket in the rain and died on Thursday morning. And then there were some floods here and there, mostly in Patong. Also the wind and rain on Thursday morning delayed some flights in and out of Phuket. Check reports in the Phuket Gazette and The Phuket News. Patong always seems to have flood problems when it rains hard. Water runs down from the hills and with natural drainage lacking due to everything being covered with concrete, the water finds place to sit and so roads get very wet ... Not good driving conditions, I read in the news about a couple of accidents that were certainly due to the rain. Young kids do tend to race bikes, and in the rain they'll shield their face with their hand, and ride faster in order to get out of the rain quicker. On wet roads, especially over the hills, you have to drive carefully.

This photo from the Phuket Gazette:

Looks pretty bad, but I understand the floods only lasted half a day in most places. On that very wet Thursday I drove 20km from home near Phuket Town to Karon Beach about 8:30am via Chalong, and saw no floods. And drove back about 4:30pm and saw no floods. So large parts of Phuket were not affected. Yes it was very wet, but flooding was localised. Be careful what you read, as some news reports made it sound like 2012 "The worst natural disaster since the tsunami" was something I read on a website that I will no longer read or mention, quite ridiculous reporting. The word "flood" does tend to sound bad, but if a road is covered by a big puddle, some people will call that a flood. I am sure some parts had bigger floods and I am sure some houses and businesses may have got wet, but this happens pretty much every year to some degree. Over the last few days I have driven around 300km without seeing any floods.

Certainly if anyone was on holiday in Phuket over the last week, you've not had the best time! Nobody wants to go for a stroll on the beach in the rain! I mean, it was not raining non-stop, there have been breaks, but this morning (30th) is the first sun I have seen for a week - apart from about 10 minutes yesterday afternoon. It's not normal to get a whole week of crappy weather like this. Low season storms tend to blow in from the west and last about 3 days. This last week has been a drag.. but the sun is shining now. The weather radar shows no rain, the forecast is good.

Note that on this blog are several very useful weather tools - look at the top left of the page - links for webcams, weather radar, satellite pictures and the very good Windguru forecast. I hope to get out somewhere today and take a few sunny photos - my camera did not come out this last 6 days - I don't fancy taking "wet day photos"! Looks like the next week will be sunny again, I think the sky is all rained out. We've got builders in our house today, going to retile the bathroom and build a new ceiling. Nice day for it!

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Wetter Weather, Plenty of Sun and Red Turtles

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 00:29:00 +0000

Finally some rain! I write this on a grey, damp Wednesday morning. It's been raining most of the night.. my rain gauge says 58mm in the last 24 hours. Nothing too heavy, but needed to sustain life! The first half of August I measured 27mm of rain. In the last week, another 130mm. These numbers can sound like a lot, if you compare to non-tropical places. Example: Manchester gets a bad rap as a wet place in England, but average rainfall in Manchester for August is .. 79mm (source). So you're thinking "But, if Manchester is wet and Phuket is wetter, it must be really wet and crappy in Phuket, right?". WRONG. It's a different kind of rain. Manchester gets that English drizzle. It can be damp and grey all day and the records show 10mm of rain. Here you can get a sudden thunderstorm, lasts 1 hour and you get 40mm of rain. Phuket is tropical and very green. Green things can't grow without some rain. We get plenty of rain here, but the question is really "How often will rain affect my holiday plans?". Well... a little rain in the day won't mess you around much, you can take trips, go explore the island, go diving, no worries. At this time of year maybe carry a small umbrella. Rain won't hurt you, and indeed if you have not spent much time in tropical zones, a big ol' thunderstorm can be quite exciting!

So has the 130mm of rain this week messed me around? No. It's largely been quite a hot and sunny week. Some of the rain has been at night, some has been during the day. There's not been much wind so we've seen localised thunderstorms. My wife called me a couple of days ago to day it was raining hard at our house near Phuket Town. I was at Karon Beach and the sky was blue! Distance from one to the other, about 10km as the eagle flies... but with a 1700 foot hill in between us. Wednesday and Friday evenings I was in Phuket Town, checking out the Por Tor Festival (Hungry Ghost Festival), a small festival of Chinese origin. Very interesting and a couple of nice dry warm evenings in Phuket Town.

(above) Street outside the market on Ranong Road in Phuket Town

And red turtles! These red turtle cakes, called Ang Ku, are used as offerings in the festival. We visited the famous Keng Tin Chinese bakery. Many people buy their turtles here, the shop is now being run by the great grand daughter of the first owner...

And on to the Por Tor Kong shrine. You can find much more information about the festival on my Phuket Blog here : Por Tor Festival.

More hot days over the weekend, mixed with a little rain, but really nice conditions for being on the water. Sometimes at this time of year you can't be sure of not getting seasick, but there's not been a lot of wind this last week. Diving has been good and the dive boats have been busy, with many people taking advantage of the good weather. Some of our customers saw a whaleshark last week, nice!

Yesterday had been a mix of sun and sudden downpours, but the late afternoon looked good, and the After Beach Bar was beckoning ... I met up with the owner of the excellent Travelfish website for a couple of beers with a view. If you think there might be a good sunset coming, this is a good place to be ....!

Not bad, eh? The coastline south of Kata Beach has quite a few viewpoints, there's also the 3 Beaches Viewpoint, the Naiharn Viewpoint and of course Phromthep Cape. All good for sunsets.

Don't know if we'll get a sunset today .. it's 8:30am and the rain has stopped, but it looks very grey to the west. Well, you can't have great weather every day in the low season!

Wet, but not wet enough!

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 00:35:00 +0000

August should be a lot wetter than this! I know everyone (including me) likes nice sunny days, but we do actually need rain to live! I took a walk at the Bang Wad reservoir this week and the water level is certainly a bit low. I measured no rain for the first 8 days of August, and since then a total of 27mm in the last week. That's not much! The monthly average for August is over 300mm (see Phuket Rain Averages). The driest August I have on record (measurements since 1998) is 89mm which was in 2005, which was also the driest year I have on record (1998 - 2010). So will 2011 be really dry? Or will the rains come sometime soon? Easy to be selfish about the weather.. I'll be on holiday for a couple of weeks from the end of September, and planning trips to Khao Sok National Park, Raya Island, and the Phuket Vegetarian Festival is on.. so I would like a couple of fairly dry weeks then.

I should update this Phuket weather blog a little more often, but don't like to post mini updates like "today was nice".. there is a better place for that kind of update - TWITTER - you can follow me on Twitter @jamiemonk for weather updates, news, Phuket related things.

Some Tweets from the last week:

9th August Is it going to be another sunny day in Phuket? Rather cloudy right now.. could we get some rain? No rain so far in August!

10th August Big Phuket weather news! I measured 2mm of rain last night! First rain of August.

11th August Actually had some rain this morning and more than a few drips too.. still hot though and the sun was out this morning too. Now rather grey.

12th August Not sunny.. makes a nice change! Everyone was complaining that it's been so hot. Today certainly cooler.

13th August Sun and rain today in Phuket. Hardly any wind, was raining in Phuket Town but sunny on the west coast.

15th August Phuket weather today .. one of those sunny, no hang on it's looking a bit dark, ooh sunny again, rain? ah, sunny again... kind of days.

Hoping for a sunny afternoon, I'd like to visit the Karon Temple market today, it's on every Tuesday. And tomorrow evening, please no rain! The "Por Tor" festival is going on in Phuket Town (Chinese Hungry Ghost festival) and I'm going to have a look on a guided tour with Phuket Heritage Trails.

Perfect weather in Phuket

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie Monk in Phuket) — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 14:26:00 +0000

August is low season. The average monthly rainfall in August is well over 300mm. So this week you might expect this Phuket weather blog update to be talking about rain and wind and storms, and .. what was that word? Ah, Monsoon! Well, not this week. My rain gauge is dry. Maybe a few drops somewhere on the island.. well, I did feel a few drops on Saturday afternoon, and I do mean literally a few drops. The last week has seen blue skies, light winds, not low season weather at all.

I have pinched the photo below from the Rawai Beach Facebook Page. The photo was taken today (Monday 8th August).

I was not able to get out today, working hard at the dive shop until nearly 7pm. But I did manage to get away earlier on a couple of days last week. The sunset at this time of year is about 6:45pm, but the days are already getting shorter! By the end of August, sunset is 6:35pm. The earliest sunset is just after 6pm in the middle of November. I took advantage of the later sunset to take a couple of drives to Naiharn Beach. One evening I went to the wind turbine viewpoint near Naiharn beach. Someone was paragliding there:

The view is great, one of so many nice views in Phuket:

The next day, I headed the same way but stopped at Naiharn Temple. I am trying to blog all Phuket temples, but somehow had never been to the Buddhist temple at Naiharn. And my luck was in. As the sun bathed the hills with an orange glow, monks were praying in the temple.

Is this weather going to continue a while longer? I think so, but surely some bad weather has to come sometime or we'll be complaining about a drought soon! I keep saying it! Low season is not so low. You might be unlucky, but you are more likely to be lucky! And hotel prices are certainly low in low season. See you in Phuket :)