It was a rainy June!

I am sure I have said this before, but... especially in the low season, Phuket weather is like a box of chocolates. That's good if you like chocolate of course, but not everyone wants the much hated coffee creme, while everyone seems to want the caramel. Caramel = sun. Coffee creme = rain. The weather decides our tourist seasons. More people will come in the months from November to April, as (on average) there is less rain. I have said many times that the low season can be great, but of course you can have some wet, grey days too that make you wonder why you bothered, especially when it's 30 degrees and sunny back home!

June 2009 was DRY. We had a total of 50mm of recorded rainfall in the whole month. It got wetter later - here's the 2009 Rainfall data for Phuket.

June 2010 - different story. Coffee creme. I took over rainfall recording duties in May, and was waiting for some real rain to see how well the little machine worked... Total rainfall recorded for June 2010 - 538mm. That's plenty. In fact the wettest June for at least 10 years. And despite this, it didn't seem too bad! There has been some sunny weather - there were 11 days with no rain or almost no rain (2mm or less) - 7 of those days with no rain at all. But we've certainly had some heavy showers in between the sunshine. And meanwhile, would you believe it, in the north of Thailand there is a drought, with farmers being told not to plant rice (see BBC News).

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the dangers that can occur at Phuket's beaches in the low season - the main danger being drowning. If you see big waves, please do not go for a swim in the sea. It's low season, you can book a nice hotel with a big pool for peanuts. Swim in the pool.

Would you swim in these waves? This was Naiharn Beach yesterday:



Nice to look at, nice to sit near with a nice Thai lunch. But not for a swim. But.. maybe if you have a surfboard... this was Surin Beach on the 29th June:



Thanks to Keith for the photos. Keith has a website about restaurants in Phuket - www.PhuketDining.com - do have a look!