Phuket Weather

Ou est le soleil?

These must surely be the last downpours of the year? The high season keeps false starting this year. After the downpour on Saturday afternoon, Sunday started promisingly with clear air, not too many clouds, indeed I was pretty sure it would be a beautiful day. Certainly a pretty busy day. The main scuba diving season has started now, with liveaboard dive boats heading out to the Similan Islands National Marine Park.

BUT, around 6pm my wife called from a friend's house near Chalong and said it looked very dark over the hills. There had been no rain in Karon beach all day. As there was a kids birthday party going on, and she said it looked like rain, I said "OK, come and pick me up". Good move! A few minutes later the rain started lashing down and continued for the next hour. A good old fashioned tropical shower :)

Yesterday, the sun never really got a look in. Rather grey and drizzly really. Someone mentioned the weather was like England. I had to point out it was 20 degrees warmer... Well, OK London is predicted to hit 15 degrees (Celsius) later this week. I can not recall the last time I felt a day as cold as 15 degrees!

BBC Weather Forecast for Phuket
BBC Weather Forecast for London

The rain is not so bad when you remember it's still normally going to be close to 30 degrees on a wet day! And despite the rain, people were booking dive trips. There's no strong winds so the seas are not rough and that's more crucial to us for diving.

Today has seen some blue skies, some sun, and yet again a torrential downpour in the evening. I have high hopes for tomorrow! Surely the sky is all rained out. Tonight I got drenched. Already on the way, my wife called and said it was raining at home. Well, so I figured I'd get a bit wet or maybe miss it, since the rain is often very localised. Not this time. Drenched and riding in heavy rain for 15km. A red traffic light with 102 seconds on the clock is no fun when you are in a real tropical rainstorm. The rain suddenly feels less warm. 102 seconds is a long wait.

Looking at Windguru, I reckon its another week until the real NE winds set in. Maybe a few more evening cloudbursts during this week.

Hopefully tomorrow evening will be dry. Tomorrow is Loy Krathong, one of Thailand's biggest festivals, though it's more important in Northern Thailand than here. Nevertheless, pretty much everyone will be floating a krathong..

How to Make a Krathong
Loy Krathong 2007 Photos

So, thank you to the goddess of water for providing us with plenty of water. Now, er, can you kindly stop being so generous? Enough, thank you. Let the sun shine in.


Ou est le soleil?  |  The Phuket Weather Blog

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