A bit about Phuket's weather.: October 2011

Bangkok Floods and Food

Floods and Food - only the 'L' makes them different!

As flood water rushes in, food supplies rush out...........

Due to the vast area that the flood water covers now, transportation is difficult if not impossible. Trains to the South cannot run from Bangkok and so have to be boarded further south, Don Muang Airport is closed but luckily Suwannaphum is still dry. With such a situation food deliveries to the other parts of Thailand are suffering and a trip to department stores and wholesale outlets in Phuket already shows signs of what could be panic buying as locals rush to get backup stock of essentials such as cooking oil, sugar and rice.

Makro, Phuket 28th October 2011

What used to be full shelves of stock now lie empty after hotels, restaurants and local people make sure of stocking up before the situation gets any worse. Bottled drinking water is in short supply as millions of litres have been donated to flood victims accompanied by a shortage of plastic bottles to hold the water.

We don't need to worry! We shouldn't panic! All that just makes things worse, if everyone stayed calm there may not be a shortage at all, that's the irony of the whole matter.

As the Thai Government starts to contact neighbouring countries such as Malaysia to import basic food supplies such as instant noodles and bottled water (both popular donation articles) things should ease. Here in Phuket we have no trouble in obtaining supplies by air from other non-flood hit areas of Thailand and if necessary import from Malaysia or Singapore.

So don't panic!

See you with an update after I have been shopping.........

Floods in Bangkok

As always with media coverage of natural disasters it is hard to know how much is true and how much is media hype. The 2004 tsunami was a good example of this when much of the coverage mixed up the worst shots from all countries leaving the general public confused as to how bad the situation was in any given place. The current flood situation is the same story.

Thanks to Thai-On (Flickr) for slideshow.

Although the situation is very bad in certain areas, with people living 'afloat' for around 2 months already, there are many parts of Thailand that are unaffected, Phuket, although it had it's fair share of rain, temporary flooding and landslides, is back to normal with beautiful weather now. But for those of you who are worried about the current situation in Bangkok, Google has created a flood map that also has other useful links and information. It can be seen in English and Thai at: http://www.google.org/crisisresponse/thailand-flood-2011.html. The Tourism Authority of Thailand offers the latest 'situation update' on the flood on their website. A more detailed story can be seen on Wikipedia 'Thai Floods"

Useful info from The Bangkok Governor (Thai only) on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheBangkokGovernor?sk=notes

Link to this map http://crisislanding.appspot.com/?crisis=thailand_floods_en

Bangkok Floods in History

Bangkok's Old-Timers Recall Even Worse Deluges: by Patrick Barta for the Wall Street Journal

And for those of you who are bored with pictures of floods and rain here is a glimpse of Phuket's weather today!

Landslides

This month Phuket has had it's fair share of landslides. Several businesses along the by-pass road have had to evacuate and stay closed for several days already. One lane of the by-pass is closed to cars as a large crack has appeared in the built up section of the road, and I certainly didn't want to drive over that!
See the story in Phuket Gazette

Taking a drive from the place where I fill up my gas tanks in Koh Kaew (near Boat Lagoon), down Tanon Kathu-Na Koh past the British International School is a drive I don't like to do when there is very heavy rain. The risk of a land slide is high and there are no side roads to make an 'escape'. Today the reservoir in front of the college was already flooding its banks but the road was still ok. However it was a surprise to see the Tin Mining Museum, the false mountain side they had constructed by the lake in front of the museum had completely collapsed!

Sorry for the rather distant photo!

Tropical Cyclone Banyan

Yet another storm is over the Philippines and heading west towards Thailand.

Image taken from http://severe.worldweather.wmo.int/tc/wnp/index.html

Today has been very wet and it looks like we will have more rain to come over the next few days. But one good thing about the weather here in Phuket is that as soon as the rain shower passes we seem to get sun, and sun and clouds together mean for some great sunsets!

Sunset as seen from Kao Rang, Phuket, Thailand

The sun is back again!

Phuket's Vegetarian Festival ended on the 5th October when the Emperor Gods where given a grand farewell as they returned to heaven. But it'e not only the Gods that have left, the rain seems to have disappeared too, well almost!

Flood water quickly ran back out to sea and Bang Yai Canal has returned to it's normal calm (see post of the 3rd for early conditions) and the sky is blue again!

Tropical Depression Nalgae

Probably the best place to get a clear picture of the weather in Phuket is from the satellite image issued by the Indian Meteorological Department - to see this on their website just click on the image below.

This wet weather is being caused by Tropical Depression Nalgae as it enters Vietnam and heads for North Eastern Thailand. Looks like we will having rain for a couple more days! Once again just click the image below to see more information or subscribe to email alerts at http://www.tropicalstormrisk.com/

October Showers

A really wet start to the day, which was unfortunate for the Phuket Vegetarian Festival. as today was one of the most important processions, Jui Dtui Shrine's procession around Phuket Town. Starting around 7am. The rain stopped and started again and did so repeatedly for the whole morning, but that didn't stop local people and tourists lining the streets to pay their respects to the Emperor Gods.

As the parade passed thought the old part of town I couldn't help noticing just how deep and fast the water was running in Bang Yai, the main canal that cuts through the center of town. Luckily the water will run back out to sea, but seeing it like that worried me a little.

The rain held back for an hour or so, but as the last few deities returned to the Jui Dtui Shrine the heavens opened and the rain poured down again. The best thing to do was to find a local Vegetarian Restaurant and let the rain and traffic pass before heading home.

Typhoon Nalgae

October is here and brings with it threats of rain as the Philippines braces for a Category 2 Typhoon, Nalgae. The Philippines has already suffered several tropical storms and there is yet another storm froming in the NW Pacific, but here in Phuket we will need to wait and see just how this storm will continue, and for now I guess we just need to take an umbrella and go out and enjoy the annual Phuket Vegetarian Festival. Hopefully the Gods will help us out with the weather!

Please click on the image below to see more information on the Tropical Storm Risk website

Autumn is here!

A few repairs are under-way at Kathu Shrine in preparation for this year's Vegetarian Festival. A sign that 'autumn' is here with the Mid-Autumn Festival, or Moon Festival, taking place on September 12th. Closely followed 2 weeks later by the Vegetarian Festival that runs from 27th September to 5th October and marks the end of the rainy season.

Rawai's Weather October 2011

Live from the middle of the sea!

Daily Weather Photos from Rawai Beach, Phuket.

Click on a photo to see larger image and slideshow!

31th October 2011 15.11pm

The last three days have been the same- brilliant sunny mornings then at the time the sea turns

from high to low tide comes a major gush of wind accompanied by a short but heavy rainstorm,

then everything returns to normal just like nothing ever happened!

Phuket!

30th October 2011 11.12am

29th October 2011 11.58am

After a beautiful start to the morning I wasn't expecting this!

Strong wind pushed the rainstorm through in about 20 minutes and

then we were back to normal enjoying the sun on the beach!

28th October 2011 09.41am

27th October 2011 14.57pm

The weather was sunny with some cloud today.

Low water was late afternoon and that is a perfect time for

exploring the rock pools to catch a glimpse of local marine life.

27th October 2011 09.43am

26th October 2011

The influence of the NE wind, changes the wave pattern so that the beach will move from East to West. Today, at Bon Island, saw the first signs of the shift which will take a month or so to move as much as 2 meters in depth of sand to the other end of the beach. For a more detailed photo blog on this story visit my December 2009 post 'What's happened to the beach?'

24th October 2011 18.03pm

Looking towards Rawai from Kao Khad, a great place to watch the sunset!

24th October 2011 16.20pm

Strong NE wind in the morning, but almost no breeze by the late afternoon.

23rd October 2011 16.22pm

23rd October 2011 09.45am

I just love the cloud formations we're getting these last few days!

Blue sky and cool NE breeze - ah perfect!

22nd October 2011 09.52am

Fishing for squid at Bon Island was a little harder than yesterday

as today the wind was stronger causing small waves.

22nd October 2011 18.22pm

Sunset at Nai Harn Beach was still nice despite the cloud!

21st October 2011 09.58am

21st October 2011 16.27pm Time to go!

21st October 2011 17.48pm

21st October 2011 17.57pm Driving was almost impossible!

Mixed weather today, started off sunny, but the sky looked heavy most of the day and by late afternoon the wind had moved from NE to SW and storm clouds were covering most of Phuket (except Rawai which was still sunny!) As the sunset, an electic storm sent large flashes of lightening down over Rawai accompanied by a major rain storm. Locals and tourists alike raced for shelter from the downpour but around 30 minutes later the rain had stopped and everything returned to normal as if nothing had happened at all!