OurChiangMai.com is administered from London at a safe distance from the claws of Section 112 of the Thai criminal code, the dreaded Lese Mageste law, but our webmaster in true English style is keen to know about the weather in the Chiang Mai he loves.
Now the statics for June 2013 have been posted on the Chiang Mai met office site the hideous truth is exposed.
June had only 37.9 mm of rain fall at the met station and is the driest recorded in a decade and perhaps more. Cumulative rainfall for the year to June 30 stands at 202.7 mm, slightly ahead of the 199 mm record set in the el Ninyo year of 2010. However this year saw more rain in the deciduous period of January & February and we enter the planting season with streams and soil at their driest.
The met bureau officer spoken to last month predicted very heavy rain in the coming high point of the rainy season. Reminds one of the words of Dorothy Mackellar describing the Australia she loved a land of “droughts and flooding rains”.
November update:
Unusually heavy rains follwed every month from July to October bringing the cumulative total for ten months close to the 8 year average
Chiang Mai Monthly Rainfall 2005-2013
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | nov | Dec | |
| 2013 | 25 | 31.6 | 17.1 | 1.2 | 89.9 | 37.9 | 272.9 | 299.4 | 275.6 | 123.4 | ||
| 2012 | 11 | 0 | 8.3 | 75.9 | 216.4 | 55.9 | 106.5 | 185.4 | 179.6 | 80.1 | 38.8 | 1 |
| 2011 | 2.6 | 0.8 | 60.4 | 92.6 | 292.7 | 216.8 | 191.2 | 260.8 | 254.9 | 69.7 | 6.7 | 0.6 |
| 2010 | 21.7 | 0 | 4.3 | 3.9 | 46.4 | 122.7 | 114.5 | 470.6 | 196.2 | 169.6 | 0 | 6.1 |
| 2009 | 0 | 0 | 16.7 | 97.9 | 142 | 140.2 | 124 | 126.8 | 191.7 | 223.4 | 0 | 7.5 |
| 2008 | 16.6 | 13.8 | 9.4 | 57.2 | 158.7 | 147.1 | 101.6 | 170.9 | 236.4 | 188.1 | 34.1 | 7.1 |
| 2007 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 56 | 393.5 | 130.1 | 74.6 | 153.2 | 179.8 | 64.6 | 73.5 | 0 |
| 2006 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 206.7 | 219.5 | 180.4 | 269.3 | 341.4 | 194.8 | 69.9 | 0 | 0 |
| 2005 | 0 | 0 | 24.7 | 57.2 | 104.7 | 193.6 | 179.1 | 155.2 | 436.3 | 192 | 22.8 | 27.9 |
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | nov | Dec | |
| Average | 8.544444 | 5.133333 | 17.65556 | 72.06667 | 184.8667 | 148.35 | 145.1 | 233.0375 | 233.7125 | 132.175 | 21.9875 | 6.275 |
| Cumulative totals | ||||||||||||
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | nov | Dec | |
| 2013 | 25 | 56.6 | 73.7 | 74.9 | 164.8 | 202.7 | 475.6 | 775 | 1050.6 | 1174 | ||
| 2012 | 11 | 11 | 19.3 | 95.2 | 311.6 | 367.5 | 474 | 659.4 | 839 | 919.1 | 957.9 | 958.9 |
| 2011 | 2.6 | 3.4 | 63.8 | 156.4 | 449.1 | 665.9 | 857.1 | 1117.9 | 1372.8 | 1442.5 | 1449.2 | 1449.8 |
| 2010 | 21.7 | 21.7 | 26 | 29.9 | 76.3 | 199 | 313.5 | 784.1 | 980.3 | 1149.9 | 1149.9 | 1156 |
| 2009 | 0 | 0 | 16.7 | 114.6 | 256.6 | 396.8 | 520.8 | 647.6 | 839.3 | 1062.7 | 1062.7 | 1070.2 |
| 2008 | 16.6 | 30.4 | 39.8 | 97 | 255.7 | 402.8 | 504.4 | 675.3 | 911.7 | 1099.8 | 1133.9 | 1141 |
| 2007 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 56 | 449.5 | 579.6 | 654.2 | 807.4 | 987.2 | 1051.8 | 1125.3 | 1125.3 |
| 2006 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 224.7 | 444.2 | 624.6 | 893.9 | 1235.3 | 1430.1 | 1500 | 1500 | 1500 |
| 2005 | 0 | 0 | 24.7 | 81.9 | 186.6 | 380.2 | 559.3 | 714.5 | 1150.8 | 1342.8 | 1365.6 | 1393.5 |
| Average | 8.544444 | 13.67778 | 31.33333 | 103.4 | 288.2667 | 424.3 | 597.15 | 830.1875 | 1063.9 | 1196.075 | 1218.063 | 1224.338 |
| 30yr | 6.9 | 4.6 | 13 | 50.1 | 158.4 | 131.6 | 160.8 | 236 | 227.6 | 121.9 | 52.8 | 19.8 |
| 30yr cum | 6.9 | 11.5 | 24.5 | 74.6 | 233 | 364.6 | 525.4 | 761.4 | 989 | 1110.9 | 1163.7 | 1183.5 |
PS I hope we can work out how to display the whole of this table without the Recent Posts column.
| 475.6 | 775 | 1050.6 | 1174 |
A ChiangMai resident of 35 years remarked that this June was the driest in his time here AND that the present epidemic of Dengue fever is filling the hospitals. So as they say “Lock up your Daughters”, children are most at risk.
The first substantial rain for the month recorded in ChiangMai overnight Amount of Rainfall 07-07 23.7 mm
Chiang Mai’s Loy Krathong parade was a washout as 12.6 mm fell overnight.