Rain In Thailand

Sitting here with my coffee on the West coast of the USA this early morning it looks to be a beautiful, clear day ahead. Outside the sky is blue and clear as far as I can see in any direction.

While we've had some rain recently, our true rainy season won't begin for another couple of months - about the time the temperatures in Thailand will rise for Summer; and I do mean rise - up over 38C/100F on a regular basis - days when visitor would be wise to drink a lot of water to avoid the dehydration I fell victim to one visit and to stay out of the mid-day sun.

Rainy season in Thailand generally runs from June through October, with the heaviest rainfall often in September. On almost any given day in September you can usually count on a cloudburst, often in the afternoon or evening, but sometimes lasting long into the night.

As you may have read back in May (The Approaching Storm) the weather in Thailand can put on quite a show. I love seeing the wall of rain approach from my hotel window, and the havoc it can create among the people below when it finally reaches us. There's a video clip of heavy rain from a post last month here.

Locals learn the signs - cloud cover, humidity, wind, perhaps even a sense of barometric pressure changes, who knows - and often seem to have a "feel" for when it's time to duck under an umbrella or some sort of cover. We visitors are usually the ones wandering around gawking and suddenly soaked to the skin if we're not careful. I've learned one trick based on Murphy's Law, and that's if I carry an umbrella when I go out during rainy season it won't rain, and if I forget it, it will. Works for me.

Up top today are two pictures, taken within a couple of minutes of each other from my room in the Pinnacle Hotel a couple of years back, showing how quickly a downpour can begin. No mist, no sprinkles to warn passers-by of the deluge to come - just BAM! Rain.