Thailand's drought-hit north told to brace for stormy weather

[webfact]

Drought-hit north told to brace for stormy weather

BANGKOK, 1 April 2015 (NNT) – The Department of Natural Disaster Prevention and Mitigation reports that the while the dry season continues to grip a number of provinces in the country particularly those in the north, heavy thunder showers are now expected to arrive.

The drought has reportedly wreaked havoc in 8,300 villages in 30 provinces across the country, or about 11 percent of all villages. The dry season has hit northern provinces particularly hard, as it not only depletes water sources but also obstructs attempts to contain wildfires and haze.

The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, the military and related agencies have joined hands to provide affected residents with emergency assistance which includes distribution of water for consumption and agricultural purposes. At the same time, they have dispatched teams to control the wildfires and haze in northern provinces.

The Meteorological Department has meanwhile told the north to brace for stormy weather during April 1-3 as a result of a westerly trough from Myanmar which is on the way to the upper north of the country. Residents in the area should exercise caution while going about their normal routine during this period.


-- NNT 2015-04-01

[trainman34014]

April fools ? I'm in the North, it's 17.48 and not a cloud in sight !

[petermik]

April fools ? I'm in the North, it's 17.48 and not a cloud in sight !

Wait till it gets dark

[Captain_Bob]

Looking pretty damn sunny all day in Chiang Mai. A little more rain like last week would be excellent. Meanwhile the Philippines are about to get clobbered by super-typhoon "Maysak". Glad to be here not there ;-)

http://www.wunderground.com/hurricane/western-pacific/2015/Super-Typhoon-Maysak

[Eddy B]

No wind, no clouds, no flipping rain. I do not expect this to change tomorrow or the day after, this is the sweat-box month of Thailand.

[balo]

Its very hot here in the south , would welcome a shower now.

[soalbundy]

April fools ? I'm in the North, it's 17.48 and not a cloud in sight !

I'm in the North-East, had a storm with high winds and lightning last night but no rain. My well in the garden seems to be running dry.

[slipperylobster]

April fools ? I'm in the North, it's 17.48 and not a cloud in sight !

Wait till it gets dark

These type of systems can roll in fast, and not blanket an entire area. Also seem to occur late in the day. Still early to tell...but weather should not be used as a joke ...I think the forecast is probable, after seeing the wind and rain last week.

[slipperylobster]

Looking pretty damn sunny all day in Chiang Mai. A little more rain like last week would be excellent. Meanwhile the Philippines are about to get clobbered by super-typhoon "Maysak". Glad to be here not there ;-)

http://www.wunderground.com/hurricane/western-pacific/2015/Super-Typhoon-Maysak

typhoons tend to die out fast during this time of year, due to water temperatures and dry air, mostly. (Should get downgraded before it comes close to the philippines. Typhoon2000.ph is a good site to check prognosis and conditions....they are usually accurate. I watch closely, as my son and daughter live in central philippines.

However...heavy flooding I suspect...even if it downgrades. Flooding is always devastating there.

http://www.usno.navy.mil/NOOC/nmfc-ph/RSS/jtwc/warnings/wp0415prog.txt

not quite the season...eighteen years spent there....never had a problem during april with those before.

[slipperylobster]

No wind, no clouds, no flipping rain. I do not expect this to change tomorrow or the day after, this is the sweat-box month of Thailand.

Had some good steady rain just last week....even so. And as the month progresses...will have more.

[OOLEEBER]

Very little forecast for the entire month:

http://www.accuweather.com/en/th/khiri-mat/320970/astronomy-monthly/320970

[Ocicat]

I think the Thai met people have fallen off their motorbikes too many times without a helmet.

[northernphil]

Where do they dream up these DEPTs ? Department of Natural Disaster Prevention and Mitigation.

I think it would be easier to be called Presentation of Official Online Forecasting of Showers . Or POOFS. Then these poofs could look out of their office windows NSE&W and with the help of bino's post a weather report.

[slipperylobster]

Very little forecast for the entire month:

http://www.accuweather.com/en/th/khiri-mat/320970/astronomy-monthly/320970

not very good. 4 hours of rain today down south, that they didn't see coming

[slipperylobster]

Its very hot here in the south , would welcome a shower now.

here is four hours worth...and a flood...lol. Pattaya got swamped.

[Chris Lawrence]

Same old same old each year. Why they don't invest in some dams is beyond reasonable thought. The current regime is not all that interested in these areas becoming productive as farming centres, as this will divert income away from their city and the armed services. What % of the budget is spent in Issan? Could also help in slowing the flow of water into Bangkok?

[Tomtomtom69]

Looking pretty damn sunny all day in Chiang Mai. A little more rain like last week would be excellent. Meanwhile the Philippines are about to get clobbered by super-typhoon "Maysak". Glad to be here not there ;-)

http://www.wunderground.com/hurricane/western-pacific/2015/Super-Typhoon-Maysak

typhoons tend to die out fast during this time of year, due to water temperatures and dry air, mostly. (Should get downgraded before it comes close to the philippines. Typhoon2000.ph is a good site to check prognosis and conditions....they are usually accurate. I watch closely, as my son and daughter live in central philippines.

However...heavy flooding I suspect...even if it downgrades. Flooding is always devastating there.

http://www.usno.navy.mil/NOOC/nmfc-ph/RSS/jtwc/warnings/wp0415prog.txt

not quite the season...eighteen years spent there....never had a problem during april with those before.

Not so fast...a typhoon in early April 2012 hit southern Vietnam and brought with it very strong winds that uprooted trees, heavy rain and flooding, I remember it well because I lived there at the time. Thailand got a few clouds from it but that's it. The Philippines and Thailand are world's apart in terms of weather and natural disasters. While the Philippines is hit by typhoons yearly often multiple times, Thailand only gets a little bit of heavy rain and localized flooding but has never seen a typhoon or cyclone or whatever make direct landfall (except after it has already hit central or northern Vietnam and then passes over Laos and Thailand as a tropical depression). It's protected from most natural disasters.

So what you have said only applies to Thailand - indeed Thailand would not experience the aftermath of a typhoon this time of year. In September/October perhaps, but not now.

[NongKhaiKid]

Looking pretty damn sunny all day in Chiang Mai. A little more rain like last week would be excellent. Meanwhile the Philippines are about to get clobbered by super-typhoon "Maysak". Glad to be here not there ;-)

http://www.wunderground.com/hurricane/western-pacific/2015/Super-Typhoon-Maysak

typhoons tend to die out fast during this time of year, due to water temperatures and dry air, mostly. (Should get downgraded before it comes close to the philippines. Typhoon2000.ph is a good site to check prognosis and conditions....they are usually accurate. I watch closely, as my son and daughter live in central philippines.

However...heavy flooding I suspect...even if it downgrades. Flooding is always devastating there.

http://www.usno.navy.mil/NOOC/nmfc-ph/RSS/jtwc/warnings/wp0415prog.txt

not quite the season...eighteen years spent there....never had a problem during april with those before.

Not so fast...a typhoon in early April 2012 hit southern Vietnam and brought with it very strong winds that uprooted trees, heavy rain and flooding, I remember it well because I lived there at the time. Thailand got a few clouds from it but that's it. The Philippines and Thailand are world's apart in terms of weather and natural disasters. While the Philippines is hit by typhoons yearly often multiple times, Thailand only gets a little bit of heavy rain and localized flooding but has never seen a typhoon or cyclone or whatever make direct landfall (except after it has already hit central or northern Vietnam and then passes over Laos and Thailand as a tropical depression). It's protected from most natural disasters.

So what you have said only applies to Thailand - indeed Thailand would not experience the aftermath of a typhoon this time of year. In September/October perhaps, but not now.

I lived in Hong Kong for 20 years and the Philippines was easy to get to for a break.

I went for Christmas one year and on Boxing Day the east of the country was hit by a typhoon, the 27th of that year ! Of course they vary in intensity but all were rated as typhoons.

HK's typhoon ' season ' was listed as May - Sept and anything before / after that tended to curve away towards Hainan Island and area of the Chinese mainland or up towards Taiwan.

I experienced many typhoons including a couple of direct hits ( Signal 10 in HK ) and they are not funny or to be taken lightly.

[slipperylobster]

Looking pretty damn sunny all day in Chiang Mai. A little more rain like last week would be excellent. Meanwhile the Philippines are about to get clobbered by super-typhoon "Maysak". Glad to be here not there ;-)

http://www.wunderground.com/hurricane/western-pacific/2015/Super-Typhoon-Maysak

typhoons tend to die out fast during this time of year, due to water temperatures and dry air, mostly. (Should get downgraded before it comes close to the philippines. Typhoon2000.ph is a good site to check prognosis and conditions....they are usually accurate. I watch closely, as my son and daughter live in central philippines.

However...heavy flooding I suspect...even if it downgrades. Flooding is always devastating there.

http://www.usno.navy.mil/NOOC/nmfc-ph/RSS/jtwc/warnings/wp0415prog.txt

not quite the season...eighteen years spent there....never had a problem during april with those before.

Not so fast...a typhoon in early April 2012 hit southern Vietnam and brought with it very strong winds that uprooted trees, heavy rain and flooding, I remember it well because I lived there at the time. Thailand got a few clouds from it but that's it. The Philippines and Thailand are world's apart in terms of weather and natural disasters. While the Philippines is hit by typhoons yearly often multiple times, Thailand only gets a little bit of heavy rain and localized flooding but has never seen a typhoon or cyclone or whatever make direct landfall (except after it has already hit central or northern Vietnam and then passes over Laos and Thailand as a tropical depression). It's protected from most natural disasters.

So what you have said only applies to Thailand - indeed Thailand would not experience the aftermath of a typhoon this time of year. In September/October perhaps, but not now.

They are rare, in April...due to the change in Monsoon winds, and dryness of the air. Last serious one in in April (Philippines, was in the sixties).

The current one, was downgraded from cat 4, to a tropical depression, by the time it hit.

That was the one I was referring to. I lived on the beach there for 18 years...straight, with a sailboat.

[Gulfsailor]

Looking pretty damn sunny all day in Chiang Mai. A little more rain like last week would be excellent. Meanwhile the Philippines are about to get clobbered by super-typhoon "Maysak". Glad to be here not there ;-)

http://www.wunderground.com/hurricane/western-pacific/2015/Super-Typhoon-Maysak

typhoons tend to die out fast during this time of year, due to water temperatures and dry air, mostly. (Should get downgraded before it comes close to the philippines. Typhoon2000.ph is a good site to check prognosis and conditions....they are usually accurate. I watch closely, as my son and daughter live in central philippines.

However...heavy flooding I suspect...even if it downgrades. Flooding is always devastating there.

http://www.usno.navy.mil/NOOC/nmfc-ph/RSS/jtwc/warnings/wp0415prog.txt

not quite the season...eighteen years spent there....never had a problem during april with those before.

Not so fast...a typhoon in early April 2012 hit southern Vietnam and brought with it very strong winds that uprooted trees, heavy rain and flooding, I remember it well because I lived there at the time. Thailand got a few clouds from it but that's it. The Philippines and Thailand are world's apart in terms of weather and natural disasters. While the Philippines is hit by typhoons yearly often multiple times, Thailand only gets a little bit of heavy rain and localized flooding but has never seen a typhoon or cyclone or whatever make direct landfall (except after it has already hit central or northern Vietnam and then passes over Laos and Thailand as a tropical depression). It's protected from most natural disasters.

So what you have said only applies to Thailand - indeed Thailand would not experience the aftermath of a typhoon this time of year. In September/October perhaps, but not now.

Although typhoons are very rare in Thailand, it is not unprecedented.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon_Gay_%281989%29

This 1989 one developed in the gulf, then made landfall in Chumphon. People in the South all remember this one.

[Gulfsailor]

Nice overview of 60+ years of tropical cyclones in Thailand

http://www.ptc-wmoescap.org/AdhocGroupAttachments/26_TROPICAL%20CYCLONES%20IN%20THAILAND.pdf

Worth a look.

[halloween]

Perhaps they meant the song?

[Tomtomtom69]

Looking pretty damn sunny all day in Chiang Mai. A little more rain like last week would be excellent. Meanwhile the Philippines are about to get clobbered by super-typhoon "Maysak". Glad to be here not there ;-)

http://www.wunderground.com/hurricane/western-pacific/2015/Super-Typhoon-Maysak

typhoons tend to die out fast during this time of year, due to water temperatures and dry air, mostly. (Should get downgraded before it comes close to the philippines. Typhoon2000.ph is a good site to check prognosis and conditions....they are usually accurate. I watch closely, as my son and daughter live in central philippines.

However...heavy flooding I suspect...even if it downgrades. Flooding is always devastating there.

http://www.usno.navy.mil/NOOC/nmfc-ph/RSS/jtwc/warnings/wp0415prog.txt

not quite the season...eighteen years spent there....never had a problem during april with those before.

Not so fast...a typhoon in early April 2012 hit southern Vietnam and brought with it very strong winds that uprooted trees, heavy rain and flooding, I remember it well because I lived there at the time. Thailand got a few clouds from it but that's it. The Philippines and Thailand are world's apart in terms of weather and natural disasters. While the Philippines is hit by typhoons yearly often multiple times, Thailand only gets a little bit of heavy rain and localized flooding but has never seen a typhoon or cyclone or whatever make direct landfall (except after it has already hit central or northern Vietnam and then passes over Laos and Thailand as a tropical depression). It's protected from most natural disasters.

So what you have said only applies to Thailand - indeed Thailand would not experience the aftermath of a typhoon this time of year. In September/October perhaps, but not now.

Although typhoons are very rare in Thailand, it is not unprecedented.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon_Gay_%281989%29

This 1989 one developed in the gulf, then made landfall in Chumphon. People in the South all remember this one.

Didn't know that, but it's exceptionally rare and was only the second cyclone to make direct landfall with Thailand in like 100 years. Even cyclone Nargis, that devastated neighboring Myanmar, didn't appear to affect Thailand at all. I've always wondered why Phuket, Ranong and Phang-nga are not hit by cyclones more often as they are facing open ocean and the Bay of Bengal, which produces quite a few cyclones every year. However, I wouldn't expect anywhere in upper Thailand or the Gulf of Thailand to face any problems since they are too well protected.

Vietnam and the Philippines in particular, are very vulnerable to typhoons (as they are called in the northern Pacific) and so are Hong Kong, Taiwan and parts of southern China.

[slipperylobster]

Very little forecast for the entire month:

http://www.accuweather.com/en/th/khiri-mat/320970/astronomy-monthly/320970

not very good. 4 hours of rain today down south, that they didn't see coming

Just rained a treat in San Sai, Chiang Mai.

Never trust a weather report. Things can change day to day.....and localized rains are always possible...even this month.