The seasons they are a changin'

Will be difficult to write a review of the last few days weather in Phuket without mentioning the situation in Bangkok. So, let's start with that. In summary, the "redshirts" have been rallying in, and occupying a small part of Bangkok for many weeks already. There was already trouble and bloodshed in April. The military seems unable or unwilling to make any decisive move, I think because there are so many women and kids mixed in with the protesters, some of who for sure are violent. The government finally offered an election to be held November 14th. And just when we thought everyone would agree, the redshirts started demanding more and refusing to leave. And now we have this.

Aside from the news (BBC, Bangkok Post, Aljazeera, CNN whatever) I keep checking Twitter and have made a list of people updating the Bangkok situation - hope you might find it useful.

Phuket is 100% normal. No demos or violence here related to the redshirts. The south of Thailand is not "their" territory. We've just had a little holiday around Phuket, Phang Nga, Khao Sok and Chumphon. Lovely, peaceful. No reason to cancel a trip to Phuket.. except maybe the weather!

So, the weather: The change of seasons is quite late this year. Already May 17th and no real sign of the west/southwest monsoon winds or any prolonged rainfall.. there have been some thunderstorms, as we'd expect at the end of the hot season.. and in fact May has already had more rain than any other month this year so far (it's been a very dry year). I will become rather preoccupied with rainfall starting from now, as I have installed a rain gauge at our house, inherited from Steen, who is leaving Phuket to live back home in Denmark - he's been recording rainfall for 10 years, and I used his data to make the Phuket Rainfall Averages. Hope I can keep up his good work. I'll add a post about the rain gauge later (exciting, eh?)

More dark clouds around in the last few days, rumbles of thunder most days, some sunshine, seas still pretty calm and the winds are shifting around all the time, but not blowing strongly. I was still on holiday last week and had a nice lunch with my dear wife at Laem Hin Seafood on the 11th - this was one of the first restaurants I put on my Phuket blog in 2006 - will be posting a update about this restaurant which is still one of our favourites.

After a 2 week holiday, back to work on the 13th - had some rain that day, then dry for a couple of days - mind you, it depends where you are - these little thunderstorms can be very localised. A good place to look for rainfall is the Phuket Weather Radar. Heavy cloud or rain shows up red on the image. You can spot rain coming, as the radar extends over 100km from it's source at the airport.

Yesterday morning there was suddenly some wind and rain from the west. I could see the waves coming high up the beach here in Karon, but it was all over in a couple of hours. Nevertheless, it's getting to that time of year when the red flags will be out. Be careful if you go swimming, there can be rip currents. Suggest you read this page - Some Tips on Not Drowning.

No rain here in Karon today.. maybe there has been some at home (20km away). I look forward to checking my rain gauge like a good weather nerd.