South East Asian Trips

Thailand lies just south of the Tropic of Cancer, its southern border being very close to the equator. Thus it has a tropical climate, characterized by weather of extreme heat and humidity. As a result the country is lush and fertile with a wide variety of flora and fauna. Take care to look after wounds as even small cuts or bites become infected very easily in this climate.

Thailand has a tropical monsoon climate. The rainy season is from May to October when the south-west monsoon sweeps across the Indian Ocean to drench Thailand, hitting from the south first. The cool, dry season is from November to February when the north-east monsoon brings cooler, drier weather from China. This hits the peninsula east coast after crossing the South China Sea, making it very moist, and therefore extending this region's rainy season until January or later. This rain makes Thailand an ideal place to grow rice in its waterlogged paddy fields. Thailand also has tropical rainforests in areas of high and prolonged rainfall in the southern peninsula. The rains are heaviest during August and September and there may be floods in October when the ground has become completely saturated.

Thailand has three "seasons." The Thais refer to them as the "cool," "hot" and "rainy" seasons. A more accurate description would be "hot," "really HOT" and "really hot AND wet." The "cool" season from October/November through to March is the prime tourist season. Current weather conditions for the major cities covered (Chiang Mai, Phuket, Samui and Bangkok) are displayed for your information. If you're viewing these pages in the Americas during the day, keep in mind that the conditions you see reflect night-time conditions in Thailand. For more detailed information, and forecasts, click through the weather banners to get to Weather Underground, where you can also find information on additional cities.

Tradition also has it that the worst time to visit is during the rainy season which starts in earnest in May or June and lasts until September or so. This particular piece of traditional wisdom is not entirely accurate. During the rainy season, it may rain for only an hour or less each day, usually in the late afternoon. Yes, the downpours are drenching, but they are short lived and you get up to an hour's notice that they are coming -- if it starts to get dark at 4:00 in the afternoon, run for cover! We're not talking cold showers here either. The rainy season is still quite hot, so the rains can sometimes be warmer than you might be used to in your bath at home.

The rainy season is actually an annual monsoon that moves east and northward in the first half of the year before shifting south and west in the second half. This means that when the rains are their heaviest on Phuket in May they are still rather light in Samui and haven't even started in Chiang Mai.