Hot weather and early storms

Thailand is experiencing a hotter than normal summer (warm season) but also receiving unseasonal storms in the Northern provinces as UN-sponsored climate changes were held in Bangkok during the last weekend of March.

The Meteorological Department warned that this April parts of the country, particularly the central and northern regions would experience one of the hotter months in recent years, as part of global weather patterns. They also indicated that this might be part of a trend associated with global warming and that more of the same could be experienced in the future.

They also announced that rains are likely to come early this year due to weather patterns from Southern China bringing moist fronts, which is consistent with showers that have been experienced in the North and parts of the Northeast at the end of March. It's very unusual for rain to fall in this month of the year.

Tourists worried that their travels would be spoiled by wet weather need not worry, since the rain usually comes in the form of late afternoon showers resulting from convection that builds throughout the day. They are short, but the hazy cloud cover has been a welcome respite from the harsh sun in Chiang Mai, among other popular areas. It has also brought the humidity neccessary to reduce the level of harmful dust and burnt matter particles in the atmosphere, which contribute to hazardous respiratory conditions. As a result the chronic problem hasn't been as critical as last year.

Meanwhile, more than 1,000 people from 190 countries converged on Bangkok on March 29 for a five day planning season continuing on the 'Bali roadmap' to make progress on the initial climate change forum set up on the Indonesian Island last year. During the same weekend a world 'blackout' hour was undertaken at 8pm local time in cities around the world as a symbolic but significant effort to reduce carbon emissions by saving on electricity.