Can it hail in Thailand?

[Seastallion]

I guess up Chiang Rai it may (does it?), but what about the rest of the country?

It might sound like a dumb question, but hail does occur in tropical places, and can cause severe damage. I doubt if most places in Thailand would cope if a heavy hailstorm occurred.

Weather experts and meteorologists, do you know if it does, and if not, could it theoretically hail in, say, Pattaya.

[jacksam]

Good question. I've only been here 2 years. Never seen hail. The gf ( born in bkk) says she has never seen it in bkk but do have "up country"

Mind you I don't believe anything she tells me.

[Chonburiram]

It can, and not only in the north.

[isanbirder]

I've seen it in Chiangmai.

[tim armstrong]

I've seen it near Laos on the border where the large market are. Especially during the dry season during thunderstorms.

[sipi]

The NE cops hail. So we have covered all of the North. Good question. Hopefully we will hear from down South soon.

[h90]

Seen it in Thaveewattana Bangkok....

It even shot a hole into the roof.

[Tywais]

Chiang Rai

CHIANG RAI – Hail storms throughout Northern and Northeastern Thailand damaged hundreds of houses in several provinces on Saturday evening and yesterday but no one was reported to be seriously hurt.

In Chiang Rai, a hail storm continued for half an hour in many areas on Saturday evening. It damaged the roofs of several hundred houses, farmland and signboards in tambon Wiang Nua sub-district of Wiang Chai district, tambon Mae Salong Nok sub-district of Mae Fa Luang district, tambon Ban Tu and tambon Nang Lae of Muang Chiang Rai district. Chiangraitimes

Chiang Mai

[Seastallion]

Well, I'm down south but have only been here 6 months, so I don't know.

The question arose in my mind because I just watched some videos of a hailstorm in 28 degree © Brisbane, and the stones were golf ball size or bigger.

That sort of storm would do serious damage to crops and people, especially if they have never experienced it.

Is it a climate change phenomenon, if so, can we expect it in Thailand?

[Seastallion]

Chiang Rai

CHIANG RAI – Hail storms throughout Northern and Northeastern Thailand damaged hundreds of houses in several provinces on Saturday evening and yesterday but no one was reported to be seriously hurt.

In Chiang Rai, a hail storm continued for half an hour in many areas on Saturday evening. It damaged the roofs of several hundred houses, farmland and signboards in tambon Wiang Nua sub-district of Wiang Chai district, tambon Mae Salong Nok sub-district of Mae Fa Luang district, tambon Ban Tu and tambon Nang Lae of Muang Chiang Rai district. Chiangraitimes

Chiang Mai

That's very interesting...do you know what the temperature was on the day it hailed? What I'm getting at is we expect hail in cooler climes, but the Brisbane storm was on a hot day in a hot place, so Thailand's hotter areas might look forward to the same.

[Fiddlesticks]

Hail yes!

[Tim207]

Have not seen hail here in Chantaburi but got caught in a sleet storm on the bike up in the mountains. Ex-mil said it happens every 5 years or so. Meteorlogically I don't see why it couldn't happen. Air aloft is plenty cold. Just a function of if it can reach the ground before it melts in the temperatures at lower altitudes..

[Tywais]

That's very interesting...do you know what the temperature was on the day it hailed? What I'm getting at is we expect hail in cooler climes, but the Brisbane storm was on a hot day in a hot place, so Thailand's hotter areas might look forward to the same.

Looking at the historical data for that date (April 5, 2014) in Chiang Rai it shows 34 high 19 low. April is usually the hottest month of the year too. Accuweather

[villagefarang]

I concur, it definitely hails in Chiang Rai and it rips through village roofs making them look like they have been riddled with machine-gun fire.

[Chonburiram]

look it up on Wiki, interesting info.

[notmyself]

Had hail on Samui last April. Only fairly small stones and lasted 10-15 minutes.

[lungbing]

We had it in Khon Kaen about 10 years ago. My wife and daughters had never seen it before, and it's not happened since. The hailstones were about the size of marbles.

[Seastallion]

Had hail on Samui last April. Only fairly small stones and lasted 10-15 minutes.

Wow, that's getting south, and April is a hot month (isn't it?).

[notmyself]

Had hail on Samui last April. Only fairly small stones and lasted 10-15 minutes.

Wow, that's getting south, and April is a hot month (isn't it?).

3-4 days after Songkran and it was very hot at the time. Judging by peoples faces I would say that many people had not seen it before. Very small stones, a little larger than a peppercorn. I was traveling around Australia in '97 - '98 and remember the hailstorm that hit Sydney and surrounding area. Stones the size of softballs caused billions of dollars of damage.

[villagefarang]

You need hot moist conditions at ground level to produce the updrafts. If the cloud formation goes high enough the hail will find freezing temps up there. It comes back down so fast there isn't time to thaw. Hail always comes on hot days in our area.

[Eddy B]

Leoi province got hit hard about 5 months ago with over 200 houses being damaged.

[bendejo]

One cold February night in Savannakhet a few years back I had the misfortune to be bombarded with sleet. It may have turned to hailstones during the night, as it got pretty damned loud. Ok, not technically Thailand, but it was a mile or so across the river.

One hot summer day in Missouri (USA) a friend of mine stopped at a roadside diner. While inside, a storm blew in and commenced to deposit hailstones bigger than golf balls. She and the staff watched through the window as her Mazda got thoroughly bashed. She now looks back on it as a comical incident.

[NancyL]

Back in the U.S. Hubby and I ran a greenhouse/nursery business and hail was one of our feared enemies. Had to deal with the aftermath of a hail storm several times, but that's why we had crop insurance, which helped somewhat. But, it just re-imbursed wholesale value, not retail value of lost crop. And the property insurance paid for the cost of material to repair the greenhouses, but not for our labor.

So, it was a nice feeling, the one time we saw hail coming down here in Chiang Mai to be able to sit by and watch it come down and bounce on the ledge outside our condo windows and see the people running around on the street and, in general just be amused by it, knowing we weren't going to be out hundreds of thousands of dollars that year.

Edited November 28, 2014 by NancyL

[Ricardo]

I recall a hailstorm just North of Chiang Mai, when attending a garden-party a few years ago, the hail was about 1/2-inch diameter & the storm affected two villages.

The Thais all ran round, collecting handfulls of ice up, and taking photos !

It's fairly common for hail to cause major damage to roofs up here.

[lopburi3]

Yes it can hail here in Bangkok - but not often - would guess have seen about once a decade over last 40 years. But it can be enough to turn the ground white and hurt a lot if you are out in it. But it is not common; so an event when it happens.

[neverdie]

Well, I'm down south but have only been here 6 months, so I don't know.

The question arose in my mind because I just watched some videos of a hailstorm in 28 degree © Brisbane, and the stones were golf ball size or bigger.

That sort of storm would do serious damage to crops and people, especially if they have never experienced it.

Is it a climate change phenomenon, if so, can we expect it in Thailand?

There's some interesting information about hail formation on the net, I've read it before as it fascinate and terrifys me at the same time. The water turns to hail up to 2 to 5km's from the ground (& whilst that distance varies depending in the conditions, it's somewhat cooler at that height than for example what occurred in Brisvegas yesterday (28 deg celcius).

Sometimes the colour of the sky can give away an approaching hail storm.

I only remember hail once in Bangkok, it was small and soft, certainly nothing like what hit us yesterday in Oz.

I believe if you really want to see serious hail, head to tornado alley in the states, not only is the ice big there but it's travelling really fast. LOOK OUT !

[KhunBENQ]

Oh yes, it can also in the North East (Isan, west of Khon Kaen).

But I must admit I experienced it only once while on holidays/family visit around Songkran 2008 (? not sure about the year).

It was a torching 40 degrees Celsius and all in a sudden hell broke loose, black sky, storm and a reasonable amount of hail fell.

Temperature dropped 20 degrees within minutes.

Quite a mess afterwards.

Fortunately at this time of year (Songkran) not much damage can happen to the crop (as there is/was none).