I am the Rain Man! (But it's not raining)

So, on Monday, I installed a rain gauge at our house. It recorded 1mm of rain on Monday.. nothing for the last 3 days. Where's our low season?! The rain gauge is very simple - a plastic box which I have screwed onto a piece of wood which is itself nailed to the roof of the shed. The top of the box is open, looks like a funnel leading to a smaller opening into the interior of the box where a calibrated spoon collects rain.. when it's full the spoon tips the water out (bottom of the box has holes for drainage) and each tip of the spoon sends a signal to the data recorder, and is equivalent to 1mm of rain.





The data recorder is now hanging on the wall inside the shed. I will "try" to remember to check daily. I figure best time to check is in the morning. So rainfall figure will be approx 8am - 8am. Anyway, no rain yet. Remains to be seen how it copes with a real downpour!



The sharp eyed reader will notice temperature readings on the gauge also. The recorder itself has a sensor, meant to measure indoor temperature, assuming you'll have the gauge indoors. Then there is a 10m long wire with another sensor at the end, for outdoor temp. I had this hanging just outside the shed window. It measured 32 degrees on Tuesday, and yesterday 36 degrees, which could be true - it was hotter and there was less cloud, but I think it was maybe picking up radiated heat from the bricks on the shed wall.

So, I am now the rain man, will try to keep up the good work of Steen, who is heading back home to Denmark - I used his data to make the Phuket Rainfall Averages.

So, today is another hot day, blue skies with some light cloud. No sign of low season weather yet. At some point soon, the winds will switch and we'll get more rain coming in with the South West monsoon. Could start soon. The first Indian Ocean tropical storm of the season (which started off with the name ONE, now called LAILA) is over the coast of India and will track northeast towards Bangladesh). You can track storms at the excellent Tropical Storm Risk website.

And a photo from early this morning. There's a lake I pass EVERY day near our house, and must have thought a hundred times "I must stop and take a photo". On a clear, windless morning, I love the reflections. Some mornings when the night has been clear and cool, you see a mist over the water - really MUST stop there again for a little photoshoot!



Phuket is 100% normal and safe. The trouble and death and fires in Bangkok have shocked everyone. I hope it shocks everyone enough to not do it again, and all get together, talk, find a way to agree to disagree. "Democracy" I think it's called. I have been following all the news on Twitter. You can find me on Twitter here, and I made a list of people who are regularly updating about Bangkok here. I think we need the rainy season to start soon and cool people off.