has anyone noticed how low the water levels are here in Isaan? I recall the floods of 2011 but since then there has been little rain to speak of. I have noticed many, infact most lakes and reservoirs in the region are at lower levels than I have ever seen before in 7 years of buzzing around on my jakayan...

in previous years this reservoir has always been full in the wet season. sometimes low in the low season but nothing like what you can see in the photos below.

in the dry season the stumps of the trees that stood before these reservoirs were reservoirs were visible and amazingly come the end of June they are still visible. normally by the end of june one would expect the levels to have reason considerably...

the locals are worried. I have had many conversations - all be it in my limited pigeon Laow - with the locals and they are definitely concerned about there crops.

if come the end of this wet season all we got is stumps and a few puddles... Isaans got a problem....

below are photos taken in mid march 2013

below are photos taken of the same lake yesterday (29th June) from the same viewpoint... one would have expected levels to have reason by now but if anything the levels have dropped further since mid march....

in the pictures you can see the water level measuring posts... the water is nowhere near even the bottom of the posts

infact it no longer looks like a lake or a reservoir.... more like a swamp...

wow thats bad,

it looks like the place near my mates ex wifes, she lives just outside surin and last year when me and the wife went to visit, it wasnt like other years and i said to her the water is low, she said it had been like that for a long time,

but dont forget the locals take water out of it too for there rice,,

but i agree you need rain and fast,

jake

another local reservoir (taken 29th June)... in the past this has always been full...

normally this is full almost to the level of the red track on the right... now its just a filed with an eerie looking pond in the middle of it...

again the stumps of the trees cut down when the reservoir was built are now petruding from the water line...

just to clarify, this is Udon Thani locality..... I will report again at the end of next month....

From what I understand, the rainy season hasn't even started yet. But, from what I've see all over the globe is whatever weather you get it seems to happen in extremes. Here in Canada our province of Alberta has suffered from their worst floods in recent history. Meanwhile in south west USA they are having a record heat wave.

From what I understand, the rainy season hasn't even started yet. But, from what I've see all over the globe is whatever weather you get it seems to happen in extremes. Here in Canada our province of Alberta has suffered from their worst floods in recent history. Meanwhile in south west USA they are having a record heat wave.

I`m afraid you have been mis-informed... average precipitation chart for the region below titled

Probability of Precipitation at Some Point in the Day

another local reservoir (taken 29th June)... in the past this has always been full...

normally this is full almost to the level of the red track on the right... now its just a filed with an eerie looking pond in the middle of it...

again the stumps of the trees cut down when the reservoir was built are now petruding from the water line...

picture taken accross this same reservoir in November 2011 below

Moving to Isaan forum

You might find this and this data interesting. If you know where I can get data after 1990, let me know.

In Ubon Ratchathani it felt like it rained every day in May but June has been lighter. I don't know what the rain totals are but I know we've definitely had less rainy days in June. That's just my house North end of the city though. I check radar everyday and it seems rain is constantly going around the city this year. The few farmers I know in Ubon and my family in Southern Sisaket seem to be happy with the amount of rain they've had for rice this year.

I know that I'm definitely not happy with the amount of rain we've had.

Well, I don't like it when it rains, it's annoying, I get wet, and then the ground is wet which puts me off going for a run.

However, we run off the town water supply, which is only turned on intermittently because the water levels are soo low. We have our own well/bore as well, but that's usually dry too, or runs out quickly when we turn the pump on to fill up our water supply. Instead we've ended up having to buy in water for the past 4 months I think.

What province are you in? Does anyone have a link to current precipitation numbers this year? There's got to be a page where they post the numbers no?

Isaan is a huge area so if posters don't indicate where they live it doesn't mean much. It would however seem that some areas need rain. Where I live in southern Buriram, the rains have been fairly constant so far and the farmers seem happy. I do however note that the Met. Dept. predict a falling off for the next week. Wait and see, they are notoriously inaccurate.

just to clarify, this is Udon Thani locality..... I will report again at the end of next month....

this one

If you go to this web site and click on the peg nearest your home you will open up the name and a picture of the reservoir.

Then click on the blue writing with the numbers 2549 after it.

The graph will draw out the water level stored in the dam for each year from 2549 until today.

You will notice how they screwed up in 2554 by not releasing water at the appropriate time.

When the last line is drawn you will how low the level is now compared with the last 7 years.

http://www.kromchol.com/array/BDam.htm

Huayrat 10km from Buriram city has a severe water shortage.. wives village water resorvoir has now mud only on 1 half and about 2ft deep the other..

Very dry in Chiang Rai too. Never seen the Menam Kok as low as it is now this time of year.

If you go to this web site and click on the peg nearest your home you will open up the name and a picture of the reservoir.

Then click on the blue writing with the numbers 2549 after it.

The graph will draw out the water level stored in the dam for each year from 2549 until today.

You will notice how they screwed up in 2554 by not releasing water at the appropriate time.

When the last line is drawn you will how low the level is now compared with the last 7 years.

http://www.kromchol.com/array/BDam.htm

nice peice of information.. thanks for that Sirus... shame records don`t go back a bit further but interesting nonetheless...

what it does seem to confirm is that the Udon Thani region definitely has a problem with the Huai Luang only at 19% full... levels are at their lowest in this short period and I fear even the small recovery this month is down to the fact that they are not letting any water out into the canals... most of the canals around here are totally dry.. the ones that are aren`t are just a small trickle.

I think 2554 was the year of the floods (2011)... so its amazing how quickly the levels have dropped off since then...

I will be very interested to see where the level is by the end of this year

Nong Bua Daeng, Chaiyaphum Province, All the local ponds & Rivers are very low, lowest my Wife has ever seen them, need big rain badly...

Borabue, Maha Sarakham all the reservoirs, ponds klongs etc in very dire straits. We have our rice planted but at this rate expecting the same as last year when we had an approx 70% drop in yield. Pathetic really considering yields here pretty poor normally anyway. We didn't even bother trying to reap about half as mostly grass and weeds.

Huayrat 10km from Buriram city has a severe water shortage.. wives village water resorvoir has now mud only on 1 half and about 2ft deep the other..

I haven't been to Buriram for ages but what's the water level like in the large dam about 10kms south of the City (the one with the bird garden)? The level there is a good indicator of how the rains have been as many of the local rivers flow into this dam (including the river that flows through my village).

Driving on Hwy. 24 today. Southern Surin has a lot of standing water. At least near the highway.

Spoke to the rellies today far south Ubon (Emerald triangle area) and they said they are still waiting for the rains and are getting quite worried.

Driving on Hwy. 24 today. Southern Surin has a lot of standing water. At least near the highway.

Thats the way it is on the 214 south to Chong Chome border crossing. We have had for the first time in three years average or better rain for the area.

There's definitely less as you enter Buriram though.

As you can see its nearly dry... All of that area used to be full of water..

15 minutes west of Phimai, about 60 km north of Korat. Dry as a bone here. I think it maybe rained one day this month. and not much last.