Has the monsoon hit Pattaya yet
I'm heading out of Heathrow tomorrow, bound for Thailand (Pattaya). The weather forecast appears grim for the entire week that I intend to remain in the city.
I'm interested to hear from our esteemed friends who live in Pattaya what I can realistically expect in terms of weather next week. Not sure I trust all these weather apps!
Many thanks in anticipation.
Re: Has the monsoon hit Pattaya yet
The weather has not been very hot with clouds most days, brief showers some days in late afternoon, heavy rains often very late in the evening.
Re: Has the monsoon hit Pattaya yet
The REAL serious monsoon time is August, September and October ... not so much right now in June and July.
Some years are better/worse than others but a monsoon is normally, by definition, a downpour of significance which goes on for most of the day(s) and hardly ever stops.
The predictable essence of the Thai monsoon is the life blood of Thai agriculture. You can see quite clearly when the monsoons are slowing down to nothingness when you travel through rice country and see them harvesting the rice which starts around the middle of November.
Re: Has the monsoon hit Pattaya yet
"a downpour of significance which goes on for most of the day(s) and hardly ever stops."
The average rainy season day in Thailand is pretty nice day that may or may not include a brief heavy thunderstorm.
A hard all-day rain may occur two or three times a year, most often very near the end of the season, like late October.
For a novice traveler to Thailand, it's worrisome to see rain forecast for every day, but that's meant to indicate all-day rain. Not at all. I think most of us grew up with that idea from Hollywood movies, which is where we learned to think that monsoon means endless downpours when it's actually the name of a seasonal shift in winds.
Re: Has the monsoon hit Pattaya yet
It's been 30°-32° during the day with some evening storms but dryer now than two weeks ago. Sunny at the moment and the TV forecast said "becoming dryer".
Re: Has the monsoon hit Pattaya yet
Quote:
Originally Posted by
mahjongguy
"a downpour of significance which goes on for most of the day(s) and hardly ever stops."
I agree with you, and certainly my sentence was quite ambiguous after reading it again.
I meant that a monsoon rain during those months can often rain hard all day ... not all season. Absolutely there are lots of non-rainy days in monsoon season. Heaven forbid that I should scare the crap out of first time visitors.
Re: Has the monsoon hit Pattaya yet
I said "For a novice traveler to Thailand, it's worrisome to see rain forecast for every day, but that's meant to indicate all-day rain. ".
That was a geezer typo. Was supposed to say "that's NOT meant to indicate all-day rain".
Re: Has the monsoon hit Pattaya yet
Have people forgotten that the point of Songkran (April) with all the water being thrown around is meant to mark the begin of the rainy season? The Buddhist "Lent" (begins in July) is intended to confine the monks to the monasteries to keep them out of the rain
Re: Has the monsoon hit Pattaya yet
Many thanks for all the informed comment/observations. There is a good chance then that I may see something of the sun. This is my thirtieth trip to Thailand but I cannot recall visiting at this time of year. I do remember visiting in August many years ago and there was an afternoon downpour that lasted for about an hour.
Re: Has the monsoon hit Pattaya yet
Three weeks in Laos and Thailand and needed my umbrella once. P and I joked that everytime we took our umbrellas when we went to dinner, it didn't rain. Eventually, I said, "Sod it, ....we don't need them." And that was the only evening, predictably, when it rained. Pretty good, I suggest. for Rainy Season.