How Is The Dry Season Looking?

[Canada]

None of the rain we got has interrupted our irrigation schedule. I would love to be interrupted.

[David48]

Canada ... great story above ... wishing you some gentle 'Farmers rain' for your cane crop soon ... 3" gently over 3 nights might just about do it?

... keep us posted when it falls.

[Bluetongue]

Down here it rained all day on Wednesday, from 4 in the morning until 8 at night, not very heavy at any stage but the ground is now well and truly soaked. Waiting for a belter to give me some runoff into the dams. The farmers were all out yesterday, traffic jams of tractors, well almost. Me, I'm brushcutting until about 1/2 an hour ago, too hot.

[Mosha]

Where is down here BT? No rain here for a few days now. Not complaining. It's the wettest province.

[patongphil]

Well it had to happen and the main dam on the farm lost it's last little puddle yesterday and is now only a mud flat. TMD showing a few 40% chance of rain days followed by a few 20's and 10's so still hold out hope for my fish in the other dam. A few years worth of stocking, feeding etc some fairly exotic fish could all fall apart as now only have less than a meter of water/mud in a 5m deep pond.Here's hoping

[jonnyscot]

Hope the rains arrive for you phil, we installed a borehole for watering our bamboo plants a few days back, wife said she had a wee shower around songkran, but nothing for months do we put in the borehole as back up, the canal beside the land has been dry for weeks

[David48]

Well it had to happen and the main dam on the farm lost it's last little puddle yesterday and is now only a mud flat. TMD showing a few 40% chance of rain days followed by a few 20's and 10's so still hold out hope for my fish in the other dam. A few years worth of stocking, feeding etc some fairly exotic fish could all fall apart as now only have less than a meter of water/mud in a 5m deep pond.Here's hoping

Mate ... I feel for you.

Here the rains have stopped ... but we are well watered.

wishing you all some nice Farmers (soaking) rain sometime soon.

Keep us posted ...

.

[khwaibah]

Its been raining in Kap Choeng for the past 4 hours. Not heavy but nice. What I would call a soaker. the radar looks like it could go on a while longer..

Edited April 24, 2013 by khwaibah

[Canada]

We had a heavy rain last week just after I posted. Seemed to be one big cloud rolling around. All our properties got some but not enough, with the exception of our home farm which got plenty. It rained again in the area yesterday. Clouds and thunder and lightning all around our home plot and rain....but not a drop on our plot. Just finished a short pour here and pretty windy right now. It feels like the change of seasons is coming but it's a little early for that...isn't it. We are still sucking water out of the ground for our sugarcane.

Wishing you some rain PP....

[farmerjo]

This is our driest start since 2005,43mm for the month although a thunderstorm can change that quickly.

Will look to plant corn in august now as we have missed the window for this time of year.

Not all is lost,will mess around with some rice as have enough water on farm to get this started.

[ozzydom]

If we get no rain in the next few weeks we are in dire straits.

Evaporation is the worst we have encountered in the last 8 years, about 20-25mm per day , so its a never ending battle to try and maintain any sort of water quality for the fish.

All our ponds are now stocked with next seasons fry and fingerlings and to lose them means a lost year.

Our klong from which we draw our water has now stopped flowing and is covered in algae,so we are reduced to non stop pumping pond to pond using a venturii aerator to try freshening up our ponds as the levels drop.

More farmers than ever put in a second rice crop around here and the klong never recovered from the pumping.

Its grim also for the villagers as the government turned of the reticulated water supply some 6 weeks ago.

[SantiSuk]

It has been a very dry dry season here in southern SiSaket (Amphur Kantharalak). The local large irrigation reservoir is almost exhausted, much more so than any time in the last 7 years Ive been here. Mind you a falang Phd environmentalist - who hashed with us a couple of times in Ubon and seemed well-plugged into government agriculture and water resources here - partially blamed the government rice policies on that. There has apparently been a big push to get dry season irrigated rice planted this year and he thinks this has/will lead to unintended consequences.

I was beginning to fear for the underground supplies that are vital for my wifes farmland (and my swimming pool). She has made some good money this year on some very nice looking market garden-type crops, but in true Thai style I cant get her to focus on accounting properly for the farm, like including the bore pumping costs in her purely mental/verbal calcualtions. The wholesalers were fighting to get hold of her fat juicy galangal and most of the neighbours and their kids were busy nights for several weeks cleaning and dressing for market.

This is a big Casava area as well as market gardening/fruit. I notice that the plantings have been mostly done. I hope for the farmers sakes that the afternoon/evening thunder storms that have only wetted the surface are going to turn into the prolonged heavy downpours that usually start in early May, otherwise there are gong to be some very sorry stories around. Wifey has just picked up 15 more rai, which luckily had been prepared for casava but is not yet planted. I will try to get her to stave off the plantings until rain is more assured, but I am sure she will listen to her BIL (and why not - hes a farmer; Im an accountant!)

[Chao Lao Beach]

Everything very lush and green around coastal Chanthburi.

[bergen]

Only the occasional shower here near the Cambodian border, just South East of SantiSuk/Kantharalak, in Ubon Province.

Still dry and still watering!

Edited April 25, 2013 by bergen

[Mosha]

After 2 years of very wet monsoons, this year is much much drier.

[khwaibah]

Starting to build up for the afternoon shower in Kap Choeng..

[patongphil]

Whoo Hoo 2 hours of good rain today. Plenty of wind as well and lost our back fence into the fish pond but who cares. Fish walking around on the legs they have grown over the last few months with mouths open sucking up the good stuff.

Please a few more hours of this tonight or tomorrow and all will be well.

[khwaibah]

A little bit more of the good stuff.

Edited April 26, 2013 by khwaibah

[SantiSuk]

Only the occasional shower here near the Cambodian border, just South East of SantiSuk/Kantharalak, in Ubon Province.

Still dry and still watering!

So you didn't get the violent thunderstorms we got yesterday then Bergen. We are only 40k apart but literally 20 minutes after I posted and 90 minutes before you posted the skys went like night and we had a couple of tree-tumbling gales followed by lashing rain storms. I reckon several inches (at least 5cm in 2 hours). The rainy season has arrived!

It was so violent I couldn't get to the doors fast enough before the winds had blown gallons of rain inside the house and taken 2 clocks off the wall. I was sitting only 3 feet from the door that needed closing!

[farmerjo]

Well we got a thunderstorm this afternoon,from the driest i've seen it to worst storm ever.

Hail and a couple of inches quickly(not exactly sure as the wind blew top off rain guage).

Was scary in house watching your 15x10 meter shed get throw in pieces 300 meters away,demolished.

The worst feeling was being in house with wife and 3 year old son watching the carport shaking thinking it was about to lift off into my powerlines and take down 800 meters of them.

As farmers do start rebuilding tomorrow.

On a bright note i think i felt better than my neighbour who was in his sala that blew down then had to resort to the little brick toilet for 2 hours

[Thaddeus]

It fair lashed down here last night, about time too.

My dog is terrified by thunder and flatly refused to go outside.

[David48]

Well we got a thunderstorm this afternoon,from the driest i've seen it to worst storm ever.

Hail and a couple of inches quickly(not exactly sure as the wind blew top off rain guage).

Was scary in house watching your 15x10 meter shed get throw in pieces 300 meters away,demolished.

The worst feeling was being in house with wife and 3 year old son watching the carport shaking thinking it was about to lift off into my powerlines and take down 800 meters of them.

As farmers do start rebuilding tomorrow.

On a bright note i think i felt better than my neighbour who was in his sala that blew down then had to resort to the little brick toilet for 2 hours

I 'like' the fact that you got some rain ... but not liking that you had such a severe storm.

When something similar blew the roof partially of MissFarmGirls Aunts house at the Family Farm, the government was forthcoming with some repair monies after the damage was assessed as being genuine.

Can you get the same assistance?

[David48]

It fair lashed down here last night, about time too.

My dog is terrified by thunder and flatly refused to go outside.

The Farm Dogs, for all their toughness are also terrified of thunder and fireworks.

they are banned from entering the FarmHouse and never do, waiting patiently by the door.

However, after New Years Eve fireworks ... straight into the house and under the day bed.

Happy you got some last night ... rain that is ...

.

[patongphil]

Heaps more rain here again last night - looks like we will be OK for a while now. Very strong winds again we lost 40m of corrugated iron fence and many villager's lost their roofs. One lost complete house and 4 cattle corraled underneath were killed - sad.

[khwaibah]

Looks as if we may get some more this afternoon or evening. Building up again.

[farmerjo]

Well we got a thunderstorm this afternoon,from the driest i've seen it to worst storm ever.

Hail and a couple of inches quickly(not exactly sure as the wind blew top off rain guage).

Was scary in house watching your 15x10 meter shed get throw in pieces 300 meters away,demolished.

The worst feeling was being in house with wife and 3 year old son watching the carport shaking thinking it was about to lift off into my powerlines and take down 800 meters of them.

As farmers do start rebuilding tomorrow.

On a bright note i think i felt better than my neighbour who was in his sala that blew down then had to resort to the little brick toilet for 2 hours

I 'like' the fact that you got some rain ... but not liking that you had such a severe storm.

When something similar blew the roof partially of MissFarmGirls Aunts house at the Family Farm, the government was forthcoming with some repair monies after the damage was assessed as being genuine.

Can you get the same assistance?

Yes,someone from orbitor came out and took pictures,think there going to give 60 sheets of iron.

Got 3 guys here helping stack the old iron and timber,will build this one out of steel trusses and tek screws no more timber and nails.

[farmerjo]

Well we got a thunderstorm this afternoon,from the driest i've seen it to worst storm ever.

Hail and a couple of inches quickly(not exactly sure as the wind blew top off rain guage).

Was scary in house watching your 15x10 meter shed get throw in pieces 300 meters away,demolished.

The worst feeling was being in house with wife and 3 year old son watching the carport shaking thinking it was about to lift off into my powerlines and take down 800 meters of them.

As farmers do start rebuilding tomorrow.

On a bright note i think i felt better than my neighbour who was in his sala that blew down then had to resort to the little brick toilet for 2 hours

I 'like' the fact that you got some rain ... but not liking that you had such a severe storm.

When something similar blew the roof partially of MissFarmGirls Aunts house at the Family Farm, the government was forthcoming with some repair monies after the damage was assessed as being genuine.

Can you get the same assistance?

Yes,someone from orbitor came out and took pictures,think there going to give 60 sheets of iron.

Got 3 guys here helping stack the old iron and timber,will build this one out of steel trusses and tek screws no more timber and nails.

Another 31mm of rain today,little less wind thankfully.

All of a sudden rainfall for april is above average

[kickstart]

Since I last wrote 8-4-56,we have 2 lots of rain one did a bit of good ,the other keept the dust down for 2 hours thats it,look at the TMD weather every day it says ,20-30 percent all the time for Lopburi, but not for us ,10 km away it has rained a lot it is like a NZ freind says 'it's a one man's rain' and that is true 5 years ago we lost 40 Rie of maize no rain at ,10-15 km away from us it rained, but not for us.

As soon as it rained out come the seed drills to drill maize, trying to get in first to get te best price,then no rain for 2 weeks ,plough then re drill. some every year

One guy near here is irrigating his maize, something I have never seen, he must think it is cost effective, he could be right as thay will not be a lot of maize as all the land is down to suger caine and cassavar, price should be good.

I got the new water pump in and running, still no rain but the sweet corn in the garden we have been watering, is rather nice, when it is done we make maize silage with the rest of the plants, hope the cattle eat it before the rats. like to water the Napier grass but not enough water in the fish pond, weather we sell the fish in the pond, or the guy at the end of our Soi catches them, in the floods like we had 2 years ago watch this space, drought to floods in 4 months?

Tomorrow morning will light the charcoal pi,t that should? make it rain,but as long as this southly wind blows no rain.

Yours Reg

KS

[David48]

Thanks Reg ... I feel for you.

• Fill the swimming pool,
• Work 30 days straight, then, on your one day off, plan to go to the beach,
• Invite your mates round for a BBQ (but haven't built the outside awning yet),
• Wash the car,
• Get the missus to hang the washing outside ...

All these things have worked for us in the past ... why not now!

Again ... just hoping the rains come again this year ... and soon.

.

[teletiger]

No real rain in Chiang Mai until last night. Forecast is for rain all over the weekend.

Here's a pic of CM yesterday afternoon.

Regards.