When Did It Last Rain at Your House?

[NomadJoe]

Won't last long. Rain lightening up and sky is brightening in Panwa already, though I can see some thunderheads off towards Phi Phi. Can also see some blue sky.

Just a splash, which will be enough to flood most of Patong.

[nkg]

Fun Tok!

Finally, some rain in Kamala after 3 months. A few rumbles of thunder too.

[EBlair48]

Hey! Nomad Joe, how come you can post big pics ? All I can do are thumbnails practically.

Good going Oilinki, rain dance successful !!

Nice proper shower for about 25 minutes, with one good crack of thunder, even, yep electricity out for a few, humidity up to 77% temp down to 30 C.

Just enough to give the ground a good soaking without bringing down a mudslide where one of the property owners down the lane decided to take off all the trees on a 45 degree slope. when the monsoon really gets going, er of course IF - it'll will wash out the road we all use .

[Somtamnication]

Today, 4 pm-ish.

[LivinginKata]

Rain breaks Phuket’s worst drought in 30 years

Phuket Gazette - Saturday, March 15, 2014 3:43:41 PM

Dark skies clouded over Phuket this afternoon as scattered showers delivered some reprieve to Phuket's worst drought in 30 years. Photo: Saran Mitrarat

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PHUKET: The skies parted to deliver scattered showers across the island late this afternoon to break Phuket's lowest recorded rainfall between the months of January and March for 30 years.

Governor Maitri Inthusut yesterday morning chaired an annual meeting at the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation-Phuket (DDPM-Phuket) office to plan water usage strategies for the dry season.

“After receiving the reports of record-low rainfall levels, I became concerned about having enough water to sustain Phuket residents throughout the dry season. We must prepare for possible water shortages,” said Governor Maitri.

“Although the Thai Meteorological forecast predicts rain in the southern part of Thailand from March 15-19, I am not sure whether it will hit Phuket or not.”

Phuket currently has 3.3 million cubic meters of water in the Bang Wad Dam and 6.61mn cubic meters of water in the Bang Niew Dum reservoir, said Gov Maitri, which is enough to last until May.

“In order to ensure that we will have enough water to last until the next rainy season, I ordered Phuket Provincial Waterworks Authority [PWA] and the Phuket Irrigation Office [PIO] to reduce the volume of water they release each day,” explained Gov Maitri.

“PWA will reduce its output from 35,000 to 25,000 cubic meters per day and the PIO will reduce its output from 25,000 to 20,000 cubic meters.

“I also assigned the local municipalities and administration (OrBorTor) offices to monitor the villages in their areas they believe will face potential water shortages and to report their findings each week. That way, we will know to which villages we might need to send water trucks.”

San Jantharawong, Chief of DDPM-Phuket, advised Phuket residents to be aware of fire hazards during the dry season.

“The lack of rain had greatly increased the risk of fires this year. Please keep flammables in a safe place, away from dry grass and jungles,” he said.

Despite the scattered rainfall over Phuket late today, Director of Phuket Meteorological Office Santas Parnbaanpeaw debunked rumors that aircraft from the Royal Rainmaking Project (click here) were cloud seeding over the island.

“The rain clouds over Phuket are naturally formed; they have nothing to do with the Royal Rainmaking Project. Those officers are cloud seeding over Phang Nga, not Phuket,” he said.

However, Mr Santas said Phuket residents could look forward to some respite from the drought.

“The forecast is for scattered showers over 10 to 20 per cent of Southern Thailand today through Monday, which means there may even be more rain tonight,” he said.

-- Phuket Gazette 2014-03-15

[Guest]

I lost the electricity right after the rain started. Whole Ao Por was out.. and seems like other parts were affected as well.

Power outages in Phuket after rainfall

PHUKET: Electricity was cut to parts of Chalong, Rawai, Thalang, Phuket Town, Cherng Talay and Ao Po this afternoon (March 15) as heavy rainfall hit the island.

http://www.thephuketnews.com/power-outages-in-phuket-after-rainfall-45165.php

[Shot]

“After receiving the reports of record-low rainfall levels, I became concerned about having enough water to sustain Phuket residents throughout the dry season. We must prepare for possible water shortages,” said Governor Maitri.

I can't find it now, but didn't this same guy (or someone who works for him) say just a week or so ago, "there is plenty of water for Phuket residents"?

[stevehaigh]

nice morning, i'm just so happy for a break from the baking sun for 10 hrs/day.

as usual windguru was on the money with this rain prediction as far back as last tuesday, i don't know how that website does it, its magic!

[pagallim]

Did my usual Chalong/Sarasin cycle ride this morning, with ideal conditions (overcast). Did get a very small amount of rain in the Thalang area at what must have been around 9 a.m., but nothing of any real significance.

Edited March 16, 2014 by pagallim

[stevehaigh]

Did my usual Chalong/Sarasin cycle ride this morning, with ideal conditions (overcast). Did get a very small amount of rain in the Thalang area at what must have been around 9 a.m., but nothing of any real significance.

Chalong to the bridge by bicycle! wow, you are brave.

[pagallim]

Did my usual Chalong/Sarasin cycle ride this morning, with ideal conditions (overcast). Did get a very small amount of rain in the Thalang area at what must have been around 9 a.m., but nothing of any real significance.

Chalong to the bridge by bicycle! wow, you are brave.

Not really, that's my Sunday morning ride, leaving home early (7 a.m.) when the traffic is slightly quieter, and the heat later in the day of course. Approximately 100km round trip to the other side of the bridge (where I take a short break), averaging 3.5 hours actual riding time. My normal midday ride to Laem Phromthep usually has much more heart in mouth moments.

[nedkellylives]

About 10 drops today, would not have known it rained if they had not landed in the pool

[Somtamnication]

My chihuahua pees more than what it did today!

[EBlair48]

nice morning, i'm just so happy for a break from the baking sun for 10 hrs/day.

as usual windguru was on the money with this rain prediction as far back as last tuesday, i don't know how that website does it, its magic!

The table is complicated, but seems we are to have another dry spell?

http://www.windguru.cz/int/index.php?sc=310&sty=m_spot

[stevehaigh]

nice morning, i'm just so happy for a break from the baking sun for 10 hrs/day.

as usual windguru was on the money with this rain prediction as far back as last tuesday, i don't know how that website does it, its magic!

The table is complicated, but seems we are to have another dry spell?

http://www.windguru.cz/int/index.php?sc=310&sty=m_spot

yes, i just looked too. no end in sight. when i talk to people back in UK their usual response is 'take some of ours'. i wish we could.

[keestha]

Keep the sky water legend alive.

[stevehaigh]

nice thunder and lighting show last night but no rain, well not a my place anyhow. did anyone get any? (rain i mean)

[dannoOnline]

Intense downpour at our place near Laguna. Laundry was almost dry ... And of course the filthy truck was under the carport.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[keestha]

Intense downpour in Khao Lak yesterday around 21.30, thunder in the distance. Second shower in about 10 days, nature already shows signs of revival, some patches of green appearing in the scorched brown fields.

[Old Croc]

In Chalong we had some very heavy drops of rain from last nights thunder storm. About ten of them.

[LivinginKata]

More rain on the way according to this report ---> http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/713073-more-rain-for-phuket-this-week/

[EBlair48]

Looked like rain and had thunder and lightening last night, but only a few drops.

Today it is 50 % humidity, never remember it being this dry, must be an Antarctic vortex flow thingy, and I'm showing 36 celsius which is just about as hot as I can remember, too.

Time to hit the beach

[stevehaigh]

i'm up north at the moment and its glorious. mild temps and thunder and rain every few hours. everything green and the air is fresh.

anyhow, windguru is showing something similar next week back home.

Edited March 25, 2014 by stevehaigh

[steelepulse]

Here's a map similar to what oilinki posted that shows wind and weather. It does look like the monsoon season is trying to switch over early and bring us rain. http://earth.nullschool.net/#2014/03/26/1800Z/wind/isobaric/250hPa/orthographic=110.53,8.81,1952

If you want to see how the wind was for any particular day, change the dates from 2014/03/26 to whatever date in the address bar.

[KarenBravo]

Here's a map similar to what oilinki posted that shows wind and weather. It does look like the monsoon season is trying to switch over early and bring us rain. http://earth.nullschool.net/#2014/03/26/1800Z/wind/isobaric/250hPa/orthographic=110.53,8.81,1952

If you want to see how the wind was for any particular day, change the dates from 2014/03/26 to whatever date in the address bar.

The only problem with the picture is it's wrong.

The wind is coming from ENE and not SW as the picture shows.

My bet is that rainy season will be late.

Edited March 26, 2014 by KarenBravo

[steelepulse]

Here's a map similar to what oilinki posted that shows wind and weather. It does look like the monsoon season is trying to switch over early and bring us rain. http://earth.nullschool.net/#2014/03/26/1800Z/wind/isobaric/250hPa/orthographic=110.53,8.81,1952

If you want to see how the wind was for any particular day, change the dates from 2014/03/26 to whatever date in the address bar.

The only problem with the picture is it's wrong.

The wind is coming from ENE and not SW as the picture shows.

My bet is that rainy season will be late.

Actually, have a look at windguru for the next few days you'll see it's changing. For first hand wind knowledge, go to a west facing beach in the afternoon and tell me it's actually blowing from ENE.

[KarenBravo]

Here's a map similar to what oilinki posted that shows wind and weather. It does look like the monsoon season is trying to switch over early and bring us rain. http://earth.nullschool.net/#2014/03/26/1800Z/wind/isobaric/250hPa/orthographic=110.53,8.81,1952

If you want to see how the wind was for any particular day, change the dates from 2014/03/26 to whatever date in the address bar.

The only problem with the picture is it's wrong.

The wind is coming from ENE and not SW as the picture shows.

My bet is that rainy season will be late.

Actually, have a look at windguru for the next few days you'll see it's changing. For first hand wind knowledge, go to a west facing beach in the afternoon and tell me it's actually blowing from ENE.

Onshore and offshore breezes change during the day as the land heats up and cools down.

I suggest you look up into the sky and see which direction the few clouds are going.

[jpeg]

Here's a map similar to what oilinki posted that shows wind and weather. It does look like the monsoon season is trying to switch over early and bring us rain. http://earth.nullschool.net/#2014/03/26/1800Z/wind/isobaric/250hPa/orthographic=110.53,8.81,1952

If you want to see how the wind was for any particular day, change the dates from 2014/03/26 to whatever date in the address bar.

The only problem with the picture is it's wrong.

The wind is coming from ENE and not SW as the picture shows.

My bet is that rainy season will be late.

Actually, have a look at windguru for the next few days you'll see it's changing. For first hand wind knowledge, go to a west facing beach in the afternoon and tell me it's actually blowing from ENE.

It's been blowing a gale through the ENE side of my house for months and shows no signof abating.

[steelepulse]

There's a reason why it's called the SW/NE monsoon, that is the prevailing winds come from that direction roughly 6 months of the year.

KB, do you want to wager a friendly beverage that by next week the wind will be blowing from the west predominately? I'll be glad to be proven wrong by you over technology. Feel free to look at windguru, windfinder etc.

BTW, during Nov-January, the wind rarely, if ever, switches to the west, it merely goes down in kph although still blows from the east. How do I know this? I am involved in wind sports on the beaches every day.

[HeavyDrinker]

One hour long downpour near Swanaphum/Lat Krabang last week - the first rain since October but it cleared the air and probably got rid of all the dry season dog mess Could do with some more as it's getting hotter....Not Phuket I know but it's coming...

Edited March 26, 2014 by HeavyDrinker