Weather in Chiang Mai

[Guest thaiworthy]

The Weather Channel reports some high temperatures for the coming week in CM. Highs approaching 38-39 degrees vs. Bangkok, further south with temps only to 34-35. I would expect the North to be cooler not hotter. Is this phenomenon seasonal and perhaps typical for this time of year, or is this highly unusual?

 

Perhaps the residents have a better perspective of meteorological conditions in the area reported by the local media or can share some history of weather they have experienced in recent years.

 

Weather sure is weird throughout Thailand, so mebbe it doesn't matter where you are as this article seems to indicate.

 

http://www.travelfish.org/weather/thailand/april

[Bob]

We (Chiangmai) had rain four evenings (or late afternoons) in a row about a week ago and that was unusual, perhaps an indication that the rainy season might be coming a little early this year; however, no rain at all for the last 5-6 days and yesterday and today it turned hotter than hell. I'd guess it was at least 100F (you metric folks can figure out the centigrade for that one) this afternoon.

 

Prior to about the 1st of March, we are quite a bit cooler than Bangkok or southern regions. Nice and cool in the mornings and late evenings and not too hot in the afternoons. But I've noticed in the last week or two that our afternoons are now hotter than places far south of Chiangmai. But this isn't abnormal at all in late March and April. Looks like there'll be a couple of weeks of really hot weather and then it ought to cool a little by early May (likely with a little more regular rainfall - which usually means 20-40 minutes of rain in the late afternoon).

 

I would note that the air quality has been a whole lot better in the last 10 days. While the rains we had surely helped, perhaps some of the field burnings all over the north have abated (which is logical as it's closing in on the time to plant new crops).

 

I would note that it didn't seem all that hot during part of yesterday afternoon (while Khun Khortose and others were bombarding me with bazooka water canons and buckets of ice water). And that was inside the friggin' bar!