Weather in Bangkok - it's getting tough

[Beats56]

On 2017-5-3 at 1:31 PM, Razzler1973 said:

I live in Dubai and I call this 'a pleasant day', you damn lightweights!

Ya it is a dry heat!

[bkkcanuck8]

10 hours ago, lamyai3 said:

No question, it's been brutally hot and humid just recently, the locals have been struggling with it too. 

Locals struggle with it - because many don't have AC at home or it is too expensive to use too regularly....  

[Beats56]

I don't find it as hot as last year. Maybe been here too long now. Ya it is hot but not that bad. It all about the humidity.

 

[sandyf]

On 5/3/2017 at 1:31 PM, Razzler1973 said:

I live in Dubai and I call this 'a pleasant day', you damn lightweights!

Yes, I will never forget the stench from the creek during the summer months. I spent a year at Sharjah in 1970, very hot at times, we only worked from 6am to mid day and spent the afternoon under the fans in the bar, air con was a bit limited in those days. They had an open air cinema and you got soaked during the movie from the condensation in the air.

[tutsiwarrior]

6 hours ago, sandyf said:

Yes, I will never forget the stench from the creek during the summer months. I spent a year at Sharjah in 1970, very hot at times, we only worked from 6am to mid day and spent the afternoon under the fans in the bar, air con was a bit limited in those days. They had an open air cinema and you got soaked during the movie from the condensation in the air.

I worked all over the gulf area for quite a few years and it was always from AC accommodation to  AC transport to AC office and then back again except for the winter months when the weather was pleasant (actually freeze - ass cold in the saudi eastern province out by Al Hofuf in January)...

 

I was in Harbin In NE China in January where it freezes in October and doesn't thaw until April and it was -20C (but otherwise a nice day) and decided to go fer a walk, covered in local quilted attire head to toe with only the eyes showing...bad idea, when it's like that ye just need to find heat and stay next to it...

 

goin' to BKK next week...hope the weather's nice...the rain was a relief last night...

 

 

Edited May 5, 2017 by tutsiwarrior

[sandyf]

13 hours ago, tutsiwarrior said:

I worked all over the gulf area for quite a few years and it was always from AC accommodation to  AC transport to AC office and then back again except for the winter months when the weather was pleasant (actually freeze - ass cold in the saudi eastern province out by Al Hofuf in January)...

 

I was in Harbin In NE China in January where it freezes in October and doesn't thaw until April and it was -20C (but otherwise a nice day) and decided to go fer a walk, covered in local quilted attire head to toe with only the eyes showing...bad idea, when it's like that ye just need to find heat and stay next to it...

 

goin' to BKK next week...hope the weather's nice...the rain was a relief last night...

 

 

" AC transport"  that's a good one.  The army used to run like a bus service using a 3 tonner which would pick us up from the RAF base and go into Dubai. Like travelling in a sauna. I was waiting for the transport one day and an American picked me up in his car, first time I had ever seen AC in a vehicle, what a stroke of luck, particularly as they were a bit of a rarity in those days before the oil kicked in.

[mindovermatter]

Very hot during this time of the year. Looking forwards to June.

[billd766]

2 hours ago, sandyf said:

" AC transport"  that's a good one.  The army used to run like a bus service using a 3 tonner which would pick us up from the RAF base and go into Dubai. Like travelling in a sauna. I was waiting for the transport one day and an American picked me up in his car, first time I had ever seen AC in a vehicle, what a stroke of luck, particularly as they were a bit of a rarity in those days before the oil kicked in.

 

When I was stationed in Bahrain during 1963/64 we lived in aluminium huts that were air conditioned but the other ranks  mess wasn't to begin with. We were fed at 20 minute intervals to allow people to eat as it was so small. We waited outside in what shade we could find (The RAF were building a new mess). The butter was in a big tub and almost liquid by 7 am. I felt sorry for the cooks as they had to work in the heat for 8 or more hours a day.

 

I also used to sneak into the Air Movements building for dump as it was air conditioned. Happy days? Mostly but I was only 19 and on my first time out of the UK.

 

[sandyf]

2 hours ago, billd766 said:

 

When I was stationed in Bahrain during 1963/64 we lived in aluminium huts that were air conditioned but the other ranks  mess wasn't to begin with. We were fed at 20 minute intervals to allow people to eat as it was so small. We waited outside in what shade we could find (The RAF were building a new mess). The butter was in a big tub and almost liquid by 7 am. I felt sorry for the cooks as they had to work in the heat for 8 or more hours a day.

 

I also used to sneak into the Air Movements building for dump as it was air conditioned. Happy days? Mostly but I was only 19 and on my first time out of the UK.

 

Quite. I went out early January and we landed in Bahrain about six in the morning dressed in normal UK clothing. We had to wait until about mid day for the Argosy to take four of us down to Sharjah. It was quite pleasant at first but there nothing open and had to hang about outside the Malcolm Club till 8am. By 7.30 it was a different story, the sun had woken up, jackets were off, sleeves rolled up and rapidly dehydrating. the woman got the shock of her life when she opened the door and found 4 guys dressed in long trousers stood there.

I was very fortunate, I didn't do the full tour. They decided to close Sharjah so I had to move the Instrument Bay equipment up to Bahrain and set it up, took about 2 weeks. Shortly after I went back I was repatriated to UK and came back just before Christmas the same year, did just over 11 months. As you say, Happy days, I quite enjoyed it, despite the heat.

[lopburi3]

We just had a hail storm in Lat Phao area of Bangkok so perhaps a little cooler tonight.  Naturally Bangkok weather radar has not worked since 0945 this morning so a bit hard to track.

[CharlieH]

Inflammatory post and responses removed.

[sandyf]

18 hours ago, lopburi3 said:

We just had a hail storm in Lat Phao area of Bangkok so perhaps a little cooler tonight.  Naturally Bangkok weather radar has not worked since 0945 this morning so a bit hard to track.

We haven't had any rain recently but certainly cooler, about 28 this morning here in Chonburi city.

[billd766]

2 hours ago, sandyf said:

We haven't had any rain recently but certainly cooler, about 28 this morning here in Chonburi city.

 

A lot of thunder and high winds yesterday afternoon and evening but not much rain up here in Nakhon Nowhere. 2 power outs as well. The first in the afternoon for about 45 minutes and the second in the evening for 2 1/2 hours. More thunder and some heavy rain this morning but some of what I thought was loud thunder was my wife and son snoring upstairs.

 

A nice cool 25 at 06:30 this morning.

Edited May 7, 2017 by billd766

[sandyf]

Bit tough in Bangkok yesterday early afternoon.

I went with my wife and her sister to pay respects to the King. I have to say it was very well organised but unfortunately they cannot control the weather. We had made it almost to the end of the covered section within the Palace and a thunderstorm hit and brought the queue to a standstill, or should I say a 'sitstill'. The heavens had opened and a guy shouted that they would have to stop until the rain was over, so they all sat down. We were stood still for about an hour and a quarter before things started to move again. The only saving grace was we just got into the temple about 5 minutes before they took the afternoon break from 2 - 3 pm.

[SooKee]

I'm finding it better this week than last. The two weeks before were really stifling at times. The rains have cooled it down some I think but it's still very muggy when there's not enough rain but clouds enough to lock the humidity in. Looking forward to this breaking.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[billd766]

We have had a fair amount of rain up here in rural KPP in the last few days including a thunderstorm (but no rain last night) that took out the power for about 20 minutes and another this morning at 5 am with a lot of rain.

 

Hopefully the weather has broken for the rainy season at last.

 

If only Thailand had the sort of rain that makes plants and trees grow but NOT the bloody grass I would be a happy sausage.

Edited May 10, 2017 by billd766

[ChomDo]

This is a question or topic that I had in mind too. Great observation from the OP. It's all about the humidity here as many say. This year the hot season didn't really have many of those hot dry days with lower humidity. Instead the temperature has been a bit lower than for example last year's April-May but the humidity a lot higher. At least for myself I feel a lot more comfortable if it's 38C and 30% humidity than if it's 34C and 55-60% (like it's been often now). I guess this just depends on the person. For people who sweat easily it's the humidity % that makes all the difference. I would always look at the heat index (also called comfort level or real feel). I remember the heat index being at 45-48C sometimes this year because of the temp/humidity combo (temp 35-38C/humidity 50-65%). This is in Bangkok but if you check Khorat, Chiang Mai, Khon Kaen etc. I often notice during the hot time (April-May) that the temperatures are up to 42C but humidity as low as 20%. I'd always rather take that option than the sticky heat!

 

Also looks like rainy season has come early this year. Been raining in BKK nearly every day for a week now. Of course it could be just a temporary storm system. Didn't really have much of a hot/dry time this April-May. Just a few days with 38C and low humidity and other than that the nasty 35C/55%.

 

Link for heat index: 

 

https://www.google.co.th/search?q=heat+index+chart+in+celsius&safe=active&tbm=isch&imgil=cUze8ps1aYdcDM%3A%3B_RPBDkI-lkrpaM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.eurometeo.com%252Fenglish%252Fread%252Fdoc_heat&source=iu&pf=m&fir=cUze8ps1aYdcDM%3A%2C_RPBDkI-lkrpaM%2C_&usg=__1YaXpjRYca3rcvoDDgOPMVqzTnk%3D&biw=1280&bih=676&ved=0ahUKEwjHud2-yubTAhUgTY8KHapgAIsQyjcILg&ei=-K8TWcfdFaCavQSqwYHYCA#imgrc=IISzF5z_s3i9FM:

Edited May 11, 2017 by ChomDo
added link

[CLW]

Stayed in Dubai and Abu Dhabi for a few days during a stopover on the way to Bangkok.
Higher air temperature but low humidity, even they are close to the sea as Bangkok.
Felt much more comfortable

[SooKee]

There's often a disparity between the 'Feels Like' temperatures displayed on many of the phone apps vs that from the Heat Index charts.  I was thinking that it was because the phone apps were factoring in any cooling that might be occurring due to wind?  As an example.  Looking at my phone now it says BKK temp is 30, with humidity at 77% and a 'Feels Like' of 37 vs Heat Index charts which with that combination put the 'Feels Like' at ard 42.  Looking at this site however gives the result of 37 though without any wind factored in: http://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/html/heatindex.shtml

 

Seems there is some significant differences with the charts you can turn up.  Depends what they are taking account of I guess.

Edited May 11, 2017 by SooKee

[anotheruser]

It always amuses me when people say they move here for the great weather.

[ChomDo]

1 hour ago, anotheruser said:

It always amuses me when people say they move here for the great weather.

haha exactly me too. Lived here for 10 years and the weather is my worst enemy. Hardly can do any activity outside because it's so uncomfortably hot/humid year around. 

[lopburi3]

4 hours ago, anotheruser said:

It always amuses me when people say they move here for the great weather.

Having lived in Europe for several years can understand the sight of the sun on consecutive days and not freezing half the year could be considered a huge improvement by some; (myself included).

[anotheruser]

6 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

Having lived in Europe for several years can understand the sight of the sun on consecutive days and not freezing half the year could be considered a huge improvement by some; (myself included).

What part of Belarus are you from?

[lopburi3]

10 minutes ago, anotheruser said:

What part of Belarus are you from?

Actually from USA and there have a choice of locations to avoid what we don't like within borders but still very happy to be in Thailand.  Worked two years in Frankfurt am Main from 1967-69 and did not exactly get much sunburn driving my 64 Mustang.

[CLW]

It always amuses me when people say they move here for the great weather.

I wallow in memories of a few holidays at the Canary islands. [emoji18]

That place comes very close to a perfect climate and weather.

[Scooby and Puppy]

Umm, it's the 'ot season folks..that means it's 'ot.

[billd766]

7 hours ago, Scooby and Puppy said:

Umm, it's the 'ot season folks..that means it's 'ot.

 

It is also the start of the wet season too.

 

Tonight out here in rural Khampaeng Phet we had another thunderstorm and heavy rain about 9 pm.

 

It is not only hot but wet too.

[Katia]

On 5/12/2017 at 7:53 AM, lopburi3 said:

Having lived in Europe for several years can understand the sight of the sun on consecutive days and not freezing half the year could be considered a huge improvement by some; (myself included).

Yup.  I've said it on other threads and I'll say it again.  I'll sweat all day long as long as I'm not scraping snow and ice off my car, trying not to wreck my car all winter, having it salt-damaged, driving slow, dressing up like a freaking penguin wherever I go, freezing 24/7, clomping through ice and snow and slush in awkward boots and the billion other things I hate about winter.  My health is better here too, being away from the cold and dry air; I don't keep a persistent cough for months after every cold, my hands don't get so dry they bleed, etc.

Edited May 13, 2017 by Katia