Happy New Year 2014 from the Phuket Weather Blog!

Wow, so it's 2014 already! The last few weeks have been a bit of a blur - this is the busiest time of year in the dive shop. Lots of people on holiday for Christmas and New Year and most dive trips get booked up well in advance. It's still really busy now, but it will go quiet again in a few days until we get to Chinese New Year (31st January). So I have not updated this weather blog since December 16th - the weather was settling down in mid December, and actually since then, for the last 3 weeks we have had mostly hot, sunny, dry weather, some days a bit breezy, some days a bit hazy, but 95% perfect weather! Not much to report really .. just sun and more sun!

For regular mentions of the weather, pretty much daily plus Phuket news and anything else I feel like saying .. please do follow me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/jamiemonk. I normally post something on there daily. And of course ... please do check Jamie's Phuket Blog, online since 2006 where you can find ideas for things to do, hotels, places to eat, info about festivals and temples and lots of photos!

So, the very quick summary of the last few weeks - hot and sunny. Now a brief look back using quotes from my Tweets and some photos ...


December 17th "Blue skies over the dive shop today"



December 18th "Phuket weather this morning ... blue skies and it's going to be a hot one, though temperature was only 25 C when I woke up"

Yes, the "cool" mornings are normal at this time of year. In other parts of Thailand it did get chilly - down to 16 degrees in Bangkok and there was frost on the ground in parts of Northern Thailand. In Phuket, about 23 - 24 degrees is the absolute minimum, but to me that feels nice and cool in the morning!

December 19th - what arrived in the post today? My free copies of "To Thailand With Love" - a travel guide / story book which includes 2 stories by me :)



(above) To Thailand with Love - you can buy at Amazon.com :)

December 20th "Quick #Phuket weather update - it's a hot and sunny afternoon"

December 21st "#Phuket weather report ... This (see photo below) is the sky above my house ... Blue skies and a strong NE breeze = perfect"



December 22nd "#Phuket weather today - sunny, blue skies, quite windy, choppy seas."

December 22nd is the shortest day. In Phuket we don't get long summers and short winters, but between the longest and shortest day there is an hour difference in daylight. For me, very noticeable that we have long evenings in June, July and August. Now it's the deep midwinter. Ha Ha Ha :)

December 23rd "Weather in Phuket today : Perfect"

December 24th "Morning weather report : Perfect"

Oh yes, perfect! And on the evening of the 24th we had dinner at The Beach Bar, one of our favourite places to hang out.



(above) Just got there in time for sunset! Christmas Eve for us, or Christmas Day for some people.

December 25th, and a Merry Christmas to you. We had a very nice family day. How is Christmas in Phuket? Well, it's up to you .. this was my Christmas breakfast ...



(above) This is called Khao Yam .. they do a great one at a little restaurant near our house.

We drove up to Phang Nga for the day, stopped at a temple, a cafe/viewpoint, and the new Dairy Hut Farm, a place for local tourists to see animals. These kind of farms are very popular near Bangkok, this is the first in this local area.



(above) Wat Manee Sri Mahathat in Phang Nga, we visited on Christmas Day.

Between Christmas and New Year, work, work work!

I'll skip the Tweets for a few days, but believe me, it was all blue skies and sunshine!

Let's fast forward to New Year!

Weather was great of course and we were at The Beach Bar again, lots of fireworks at midnight and a Happy New Year to all!



2014! Here we Go! It's got to be a good one ... hope the trouble in Bangkok stays under control. Thailand, stay calm please!

January 1st - great weather again, but no early starts! I was the first of the family to wake up .. at 10am. We soon kicked into gear and headed to Laem Hin Seafood for lunch.



(above) Part of a very tasty New Year lunch .. this is Yam Kai Pla, salad made with cooked fish eggs. Really, very tasty.

January 2nd "Phuket weather - same again - sunny, breezy, slightly hazy, fairly hot"

January 3rd "Actually had a few drops of rain last night, first rain for weeks. This morning, clear skies, looks like another perfect day on the way"

January 4th "Rain on the way ... #Phuket ... Not had a wet day for weeks" and then "Rain did not stick around long ... afternoon has been hot and sunny, sky is clear and blue #Phuket #weather"

And today I have been so busy in the dive shop, I don't know which way is up! January 5th, we're 5 days into the new year. Hope you have a good one. 2013 was pretty good, you can see a Review of 2013 on Jamie's Phuket Blog. See you in Phuket!

Oh, and if you need a hotel ... and you probably do ... you can book here.

Happy New Year!