Phuket Weather

The Phuket Weather Blog

Sunshine

Let's start today with a quote from Walt Whitman.

Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you.

If you are in Phuket today, I surely hope you will seize the day. The sun shines, the air is warm, the ocean calm. One of those perfect low season days. Yes, it's not always like this, but the last few days have been sunny, the winds have calmed (Monday was still quite blowy). Gather ye rosebuds while ye may.

Of course I seem to have picked up a little cold from somewhere. My daughter got sick on Sunday night and has been off school for 3 days. Normally she never gets sick, a tough bunny. And can I seize the day? Nope, working. I am jealous of all ye holiday makers!

I had to get to the office early this morning, and rode over Patong Hill about 7:15am. As you climb from Kathu up the hill, the early morning views full of mist are beautiful. One of my favourite views in Phuket.

View over Kathu from Patong Hill


Phuket Weather

Sunshine


No rain, but the west wind doth blow

After the deluge of Thursday morning I considered buying that book "Ark building for dummies", just in case. But then I remembered - it's just the way the weather is in Phuket. You get heavy rain sometimes but it rarely lasts for long. Thursday afternoon was dry, but there was a change in the weather as the westerly winds picked up making seas choppy for the last few days, but blowing away the clouds and making the air fresher and less humid. There has been barely a spot of rain since Thursday afternoon.

Today I was not working, and was rather sure it would rain. Dark clouds hovered over the hills last night. Dark clouds have lurked all day, but there has also been sunshine. We went for an early lunch at Kan Eang 2 Seafood. In fact, so early that we were the first customers. It's a simple restaurant by the water at Chalong Bay.

My kids explore the beach near Kan Eang Seafood

After lunch, a quick drive to Phromthep Cape. We used to pass by this area a lot, but somehow in 3 ½ years my son has never been up the lighthouse at Phromthep. He was also impressed by the shrine which is surrounded by elephants and dashed off for a quick prayer!



The coast around the southwest corner of Phuket is rocky and quite dramatic with steep cliffs, little beaches and rocky islands. The island below is Koh Kaew Yai, just south of Phromthep Cape. There's a shrine on the island and we do intend to hire a longtail (from Rawai beach) to go over there one day!

Koh Kaew Yai seen from Phromthep Cape


Phuket Weather

No rain, but the west wind doth blow


Sun, Sun, Wet and Wild

The weather Gods continued to smile on Tuesday and Wednesday. Two beautiful sunny days when I would have loved to be out diving, but of course I am an office boy. It may be low season for diving here, but he who snoozes loses and we are hard at work. If you blink, high season is here. You gotta be ready!

I did mean to take a photo of the sunshine yesterday. Instead, I bring you some lovely photos from this morning taken along the road to the kids school. Wettest morning of the year, perhaps? Was quite a wild ride for an hour or so.







It has cleared up this afternoon. Not wet now, but the forecasts are damp for the next few days. It's been a pretty dry "wet season" so far, so I guess we're due some rain. If you're heading to Phuket in the next few days, don't worry too much, you'll get some clear skies and it won't rain all day.

Meanwhile... I must say the Tour de France was great yesterday. Fantastic scenery and guys racing to their limits up Alpe D'Huez. And we get it live on the cable TV :)

Oh, hey. I did a blog search and found a blog with nice sunny photos taken on Tuesday at Phi Phi - check out the sun - Tess in Thailand.


Phuket Weather

Sun, Sun, Wet and Wild


The Weather Gods are my Friends

Well, it was all wet and wild at the end of last week. Check out the previous post (Phuket Weather: Friday July 18th 2008). And you know, I reckon the weather Gods were listening. So we got our good weather for my daughters 7th birthday party, though it did rain heavily in the night and the last few party stragglers got wet on the way home. Thanks Gods. I knew you would not be so cruel as to ruin a kid's birthday!

Actually it must have rained pretty hard on Saturday night, as the garden was all soggy in the morning. Sunday was dry too, and today has been very nice weather. Despair ye not, sun seekers!

Karon beach, 21st July

A little before sunset I took a walk on Karon Beach. It's a beautiful time of day, the sunlight reflects off the golden sand, the sky is a thousand colours. There were very few people on the beach. A few tourists, a few fishermen, a bunch of guys playing football.

Beach Football, Karon 21st July

Some of the guys were actually beach guards and while I was there I witnessed a rescue. You have to be careful at this time of year. The sun may shine, the beach may be golden, but Karon can have some sizeable waves, and it's easy to get out of your depth. One of the football players dashed off where a kid was in the water. Mum was shouting. Kid was rescued before she got into real trouble. See photo below. If you come to Phuket, please try not to drown. I have linked to this before and will link again: Tips on Not Drowning by Tezza.

Rescued. Karon 21st July.

Up above Karon you can see the top of the Big Buddha. The statue actually faces east, so from here you can see the back of Buddha's head.


Phuket Weather

The Weather Gods are my Friends


I am praying for sun...

We have a party for my daughter's 7th birthday tomorrow. Rain is not invited. Sunshine very welcome. It's now Friday afternoon and things are calming down. Sun is trying to shine. I am hopeful...

Last couple of days have been wet and windy indeed. Aside from the landslide mentioned in the last post, there have been traffic delays due to flooded roads and a fishing boat sank yesterday near Koh Racha Yai (a small island about 15km south of Phuket). All sounds very dramatic, but it's nothing serious. We do get some cr*ppy days in the low season now and then, but Phuket does not get big storms or typhoons or anything like that. Just a bit of cats 'n' dogs once in a while :)

Sunken fishing boat off Racha Yai

• Fishing Boat Sinks - Story in Phuket Gazette

Traffic held up by minor floods on the Phuket airport road

• Floods Cause Traffic Hold Ups - Story in Phuket Gazette

But as I say... looks like we might just get our Sunny Saturday. Please everyone do a sun dance for me!

Even if sunny, looks like there will be some surf - great for the Kalim Surf Contest which has 150 entrants and takes place from today until Sunday (18th - 20th July). For more see www.phuketboardriders.com.


Phuket Weather

I am praying for sun...


Rainy Nights

We're having one of those low season "weather fronts" at the moment. Sometimes it's lovely weather, sometimes it's not bad, and every few weeks we get periods of rain, wind and grey skies that normally last about 3 days. If you are here for 3 days right now... oh dear. If you're coming on Saturday, should be OK. But no promises!

We had some rain on Tuesday evening. I got a tiny bit wet riding home, then there was some heavier rain overnight. It had also rained on Monday night, but not on our house. However, in Patong (just 7 or 8km away) there was rain, and in the hills where building never stops (hey, everyone wants a seaview) there was a small landslide on Tuesday morning which buried 3 Burmese workers.



Landslide on 15th July: Phuket Gazette News

It's happened before. A couple of buildings were close to collapse last year in the hills above Patong, though nobody was killed that time - see photo below, and story here: Don't Mess with Mother Nature.

Landslide in Patong October 2007

It's a problem that looks set to continue. Building codes? Safety? Profit? Does anyone really care about Burmese labourers? Here's my advice... if you want to buy a house in Phuket, be sure it's checked out by a real professional if you're looking at seaview houses built on hillsides. My house is on flat land and not right under a mountain!

Last night's rain was heavy. We just got builders in to seal and repaint our roof last week and looks like there's no leak now, hooray! If you're in Phuket today, I reckon you might want to check out the Central Festival mall!

Come on and rain all you want today and tomorrow, but please be sunny on Saturday...

If you have nothing else to do... there is a local agricultural fair going on - see report in the Phuket Gazette. We used to have one back home. My grandfather was one of the organisers of the "Ifield Flower Show". Them were the good old days. And on that note, I am reminded of some verse...

Into my heart on air that kills
From yon far country blows.
What are those blue remembered hills,
What spires, what farms are those?

That is the land of lost content,
I see it shining plain,
The happy highways where I went
And cannot come again.


Phuket Weather

Rainy Nights


Beautiful Weather and Empty Beaches

Sometimes the low season makes me laugh. Do people really believe that it rains every day? Do people hear the words "monsoon" and "wet season" and fear being swept away by floods and typhoons? Or does everyone believe some of the Phuket Weather Forecasts which seem to say the same thing every day ("chance of a thunderstorm")?

Another wet and windy day in Phuket. Not.

Truth is that the low season/rainy season, call it what you will, is normally a nice time to come to Phuket. I think if you take the time to check some of the monthly archives on this blog, you'll see what I mean. Sure you get some rain, and you do get occasional sh*tty days, but mostly it's warm, sunny (well, partly cloudy) and what's more, Phuket is CHEAP in the low season. Hotels drop their prices to survival level, making a holiday to Phuket at this time of year very affordable.

Phuket Hotels - Late Booking Deals at Agoda.com

This morning, Karon Beach was looking particularly deserted, but it's yet another beautiful low season day in Phuket. See you soon?

Empty beach chairs, Karon beach

Note: see the comments in this post - the red flags are raised for the entire low season no matter what the weather is like. The beach is not "closed", but the prevailing SW winds at this time of year mean that waves can sometimes be quite big at some beaches. Karon is quite long and exposed - waves can be big. Take care. Kata is more sheltered. Do not enter heavy surf if you are unable to swim!

Some good info by Tezza: Some Tips on Not Drowning


Phuket Weather

Beautiful Weather and Empty Beaches


Sunny Summer Days

Actually, oficially this is not the "summer" here in Phuket, although we are just about in the Northern hemisphere. It's warm all year round, if the temperature in the daytime is below about 24°C the locals would call it brass monkey weather. So for us, the period around March and April is called the summer, as it's normally the hottest time of year and also schools have their 2 month summer holiday at that time (apart from International schools which don't run to the Thai curriculum).

Anyways.. it would be summer back in Engerland, and you can tell because Wimbledon has just finished, the cricket is on and the Tour de France too. We have Le Tour live on the cable TV here so I can watch the end of most stages in the evening. Some years ago I was a very keen cyclist...

Riding the Pyrenees, 1990

The last 2 days have been sunny, warm, great for tanning, diving, or even "chilling" by the pool. Odd expression that, "chilling". Most people want a nice sunny beach in order to "chill".

This morning was particularly fine, so I took some time to look around Wat Sawang Arom in Rawai and the attached temple school. Despite many visits to Rawai beach, I had somehow never been down the side road to the temple. It's worth a visit.

Wat Sawang Arom, Rawai  Window at Wat Sawang Arom

Praying for sun tomorrow. I have a day off and we recently paid membership at a spa, so we can go and have a sauna, swim in the pool, let the kids play and just chill - but only if it's hot and sunny!


Phuket Weather

Sunny Summer Days


Live Weather Station in Phuket

Live Weather Station in Phuket

A very useful tool for up to the minute weather reports - Willy from KiteSurf Thailand has got a live weather station set up at the KiteSurf shop which you can find at Chalong Bay, near the Friendship Beach Resort. The page shows wind, sun, rain, humidity, cloudbase. Great!

Screenshot of the live weather page

You can find it here: Live Weather Station, Chalong Bay Phuket

There is a kind of absense of weather news to report. The last few days have been alternately "quite sunny", "quite cloudy", "nice and warm" and "overcast with light drizzle and patches of sun". Good enough if you're in Phuket on holiday. Enough sun to go home with a tan, almost no rain, light winds, calm seas. Not picture postcard blue sky weather, but it'll do!

Sunday was the best, though the lazy Monk family did not make the most of it. Shopping, resting.. Kids get tired after a week at school. The hours are quite long. My 6 year old has to be there 7:45am - 4pm. And the rest of the family had been to the pool on Saturday while I was at work. So we took it easy and invited a few friends for drinks and food in the evening. Very nice to sit in the garden with a cold beer as the sun sank over the hills.

Last few days - uninteresting weather - you can Follow me on Twitter where I post mini updates as often as I remember.


Phuket Weather

Live Weather Station in Phuket


July 4th and 5th - HOT Weather in Phuket

I just took a walk down to Karon Beach, just about 4 minutes from the office. I tell you what, it's a bloomin' hot day today. After my little walk taking some photos I had to crank up the aircon. There were some dark clouds around earlier, but there's been no rain. The beach was all but deserted. I saw one family and a few couples. Want a beach almost to yourself, (mostly) nice weather and bargain rates on top resorts? Well, you can do worse than a low season trip to Phuket!

No swimming sign, Karon Beach

Crowds at Karon Beach, 5th July

Karon Beach. Too crowded, rain, big waves... NOT!
(above) Karon Beach, 5th July 2008

Yesterday was also a hot one. I skipped school (normally go to school with my wife to drop off our kids) as I wanted to get some temple photos. I had not stopped at Wat Thepnimit before, and I reckon it's time for another temple on my Phuket Blog!

Wat Thepnimit, 4th July


Phuket Weather

July 4th and 5th - HOT Weather in Phuket


Phuket Weather Forecast

I normally don't try to predict the weather, even if I get a feeling in my bones now and then. The Phuket Weather blog is more about reporting the weather, photos and a bit of chit chat. You can find a bunch of weather forecast links on the left side, along with satellite images, radar, webcams, wind forecasts and more.

Just to get them all in one place (bookmark this post!) I have scoured the Google results for Phuket weather forecasts. They often tend to be wrong, or let's say misleading, especially in low season when forecast sites always seem to say "chance of a thunderstorm" or "scattered thunderstorms". The weather in Phuket is very rarely bad enough to stop you enjoying life. Rain is warm and we do not get destructive storms, typhoons etc. At this time of year you'll get some rain somedays, but a lot of good weather too.

I won't say any one forecast is better that the others, but I do like Windguru and Accuweather. If you want to know what the weather is like NOW, check the Karon Beach Live Webcam.

Phuket Weather Forecasts on the Web

Windguru
Accuweather
Thai Meteorological Department
BBC Weather
CNN Weather
Weather Underground
Weather.com
Yahoo Weather
Weatherzone
Intellicast


Phuket Weather

Phuket Weather Forecast


Rain is Gone, Heat is On

Last weeks rainy days are well and truly gone. The last 4 days in Phuket have been hot - not exactly clear blue skies, but certainly darn hot! The winds are almost non existent, so the heat "feels hotter". The AccuWeather website has even invented a special term for that : "Real Feel"

"The patented, exclusive AccuWeather RealFeel Temperature is an index that describes what the temperature really feels like. It's a unique composite of everything that affects how warm or cold a person feels, and measures the effects of temperature, wind, humidity, sunshine intensity, cloudiness, precipitation and elevation on the human body."

So today on the Accuweather Phuket Weather Page, it gives the maximum temperature as 32°C, but a Reel Feel of 44°C - in other words, it was hot in Phuket today!

Hot is great when you can get to the beach.. we spent a couple of hours at Paradise Beach on Sunday after watching a little dance show put on by our son's school at the Big C shopping center - lots of 3 year old kids doing dance routines, most of them looking a little bemused, a few crying and a few shaking their thang!

Today I went to the pool with our instructor and a couple of students starting their PADI Open Water Diver course. The pool is behind Kata Temple at a place called Kata Big Rock. It's used by a number of dive companies and there were about 15 divers in the pool today. Must have been nice to cool off what with that reel feel and all... We had a bit of lunch, they have an inexpensive restaurant - my sausage sandwich was 50 Baht.

Lunch at Kata Big Rock Divers in the pool at Kata Big Rock

Sports news: Well done to Tammy for reaching the Quarter Finals of Wimbledon - best even by a Thai tennis player. Andy Murray plays later today against Rafa Nadal. I won't curse him by wishing him luck, but it should be on the cable TV and should not be on too late..

Beer news: I just found out where to buy Beer Lao in a supermarket, and it's on my route home too! Beer Lao tastes very nice, so it might be time to bid goodbye to Chang.


Phuket Weather

Rain is Gone, Heat is On