Wednesday 3 November 2010

Koh Samui, Thailand daily weather update; 3rd November, 2010

Today's weather;

Samui is recovering after having been in the news a bit yesterday. Right now there's still rain but the wind is slowing down and electricity has been on almost all night long, to the relief of all residents. Current temp at 7am is 25.5C.
The forecast is looking a lot better as of this morning, today subsiding winds and still a lot of rain but than slowly the wind and amount of rain goes down pretty much each day to be over by the weekend and the sun might pop out again!
It's interesting to look back at some pictures from the November 2008 flooding, which wasn't anywhere near what happened this time around.
My family is doing fine so far and we're in steady contact.

The ring road in Lamai yesterday

Koh Lanta is wet this morning, Phuket and Phi Phi, which you can see most of the time from here, where covered and white clouds but in front of Lanta were some dark clouds and they're shedding their water weight right now. Current temp at 7am is around 26C.
Today my IDC continues after having had a day off yesterday.

7-11 Lamai at ring road yesterday

Yesterday saw 263mm of rain come down on Samui, yesterdays posts with pictures and video tell the story pretty much and today has another glimpse on conditions around the island.
Things are slowly getting better now though and by the end of the week it all should be back to normal. Just hope the island can be restocked with food etc very soon and the ferry schedule will be resumed soon. Max temp reached 27C

Besides Samui, it was Songkla and Hat Yai that really have been hit bad, a lot worse than their last flooding 10 years ago with water reaching a 3 meter height at some parts.

Koh Lanta on the other hand had some really hard storm condition around 5.30am but by 7.30am it was dry again and by noon the sun was out and it remained dry pretty much the rest of the day. Max temp was around 30C

Camille

42 comments:

Unknown said...

hows the situation now? was suppose to come to Koh Samui tomorrow for a holiday but reconsidering if its bad. please share your experience as don't think yahoo weather is very accurate. thank you

Camille said...

Hi Sanveen,

Right now it's still raining and rather lots of wind, not like yesterday but still noticeable.
Maybe it's better to postpone for a few days if that's an option.

Michelle said...

Hi Camille,
My name is Michelle, and was interested in your post as i have friends travelling to koh samui, phi phi island and phuket next week for some diving/holiday. What are the conditions like?
Thanks!

Camille said...

Hi Michelle,

Right now Samui is not so good, probably not until the weekend and there's a new front forming over Cambodia and Vietnam.
Phi Phi and Phuket may be better options, I'm Koh Lanta right now and although there was rain this morning, there's sunshine during the afternoon and yesterday saw plenty of sunshine and people out on the beaches.

Hope this helps!

ilya said...

hi Camille,

found your blog while searching for the weather condition in Koh Samui. your blog is really helpful. Hope you and your family are well and safe.

i am supposed to travel to koh samui in 15 Nov. but now im kinda worried about the weather and think of should i cancel my flight or not.

if i have to cancel, if would be soooo sad..i really want to go to koh samui as ive planned for sometime already :(

appreciate you advices though.
Be safe :)

Camille said...

Hi Ilya,

Right now I would expect everything to be a lot more like 'normal' come 15th November, although that's no guarantee, it's likely.

Maybe a little bit before cancelling anything and keep an eye out on the developments.

Michelle said...

Thanks heaps Camille! That's really helpful :-) What are diving conditions like on koh lanta/samui?

If possible I might try and get them some accommodation in Phuket, if the weather is better there!

Many thanks,

Michelle

Camille said...

Hi Michelle,

Right now, dive conditions around Samui are not that great but Koh Lanta and Phuket are doing relatively fine. Later this week I hope to be able to do some diving around Koh Lanta.

The Phuket, Koh Lanta, Kao Lak area should have better weather conditions right now.

Michelle said...

Awesome!

Thanks for all your info! Hope the conditions over there improve and you get out on a dive..

Many thanks,

Michelle

Camille said...

Hi Michelle,

You're welcome and thanks for checking in. Am looking forward to the diving!!!

simon said...

hi Camille. have read with interest your blogs from knh samui. we are arriving there friday 5th november and worried what we will find due to all the storms and airport closures, floods, etc! looked on the net but so many different "stories" so wondered if you could let us know what it is like now and likely to be like by friday am. you seem very knowledgeable and excelent blog so thought you may be able to help. many thanks if you can. thanks, simon

Camille said...

Hi Simon,

Right now the 5th should be fine for arriving, right now that seems to be about the first day things start to go back to normal.
There's apparently a new depression building up over Cambodia and Vietnam so worthwhile to keep an eye out on that!

Hope this helps.

Nick said...

Hi,

Myself and my fiance fly out to Koh samui on Saturday arriving
sunday.....how do you think the weather is looking has the storm pretty
much finished? is it looking better or is there more flooding on the
horizon?

Many thanks

Nik &

Ps

Love he blogs we have been reading them for months now accurate and
interesting!

Camille said...

Hi Nick,

Right now it looks like Sunday may actually have some sunshine! The storm should be finished but there's apparently a new depression building up over Vietnam and Cambodia that might affect Samui, so keep an eye out for that!

Thanks for checking in!

simon said...

Hi Camille, many thanks for the prompt reply and hope you all ok there. we really are wanting to come so fingers crossed all ok for us and there asap. if you have any more information or changes then appreciate a message and will keep an eye out on your blogs which are excellent. many thanks, keep safe, simon.

Camille said...

Hi Simon,

Yes, let's cross our fingers indeed!

Please keep following the blog, that's the best update I can offer!

Anonymous said...

Hi Camille

So enjoyed going through your Blog, very informative. Camille my daughter was staying on Koh Samui but after returning from Laos on Monday was unable to get to Koh Samui. She is now staying a in Phi Phi with friends. Her flight to return homes leaves from Koh Samui on Friday. With the present conditions do you think that the flight from Krabi to Koh Samui will go ahead?
Many thanks and may you and your family keep safe.
Jenn

ilya said...

hi sir,

Thank you very much for your advices!

Hi SUN,

please please please come out again! :)

Camille said...

Hi Ilya,

You;re welcome and it looks like the sun may come out over the weekend.

Camille said...

Hi Jenn,

Right now I would expect to be on schedule come Friday. Today apparently flights started again to/from Samui at 3pm.

Phi Phi had a lovely sunset tonight!

Shannon said...

Thanks for your blog. We are honeymooners and we just arrived in Koh Samui
last Monday. Since then, we were stuck indoors due to heavy rain. Do you
have any idea if the weather will improve this week? :(

Camille said...

Hi Shannon,

It looks like you're going to get some better weather as of tomorrow with the sun peeping out over the weekend!

Sorry to hear that you got caught up in Samui during such an exceptional bad weather patch.

Good luck.

Andrea said...

Hi Camille
I saw your pictures of the flooding in Samui these past few days. We are supposed to be arriving in Samui on Friday but just wanted to check how bad things were... We will have a 15 month old with us and don't really fancy being stuck in a resort for 4 days with no power etc. Can you please let me know how bad it is? Is the power off? Is it raining for most of the day?
Any comments would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers
Andrea

Camille said...

Hi Andrea,

By Friday things should be back to normal, according to the forecast. Most hotels will have generators that will provide power for their resort. Where will you be staying? Right now power has been and off (more off than on) for the past two days all over the island.
As of tomorrow things should slowly start to clear up and improve.

Hope that this helps for now.

Unknown said...

Hi Camille's

Me and my partner are traveling to Thailand on the 8th November. First stop Bangkok then onto Chaing Mai then to Phuket then hitting the islands Phi Phi, Lanta then heading over to Phangnan, Tao and finally samui. We should be over in your area around the week of the 22/11. Do you know how the weather will be around this time?

You certainly have had it bad.

Your blog is brillant, so informative and helpful.

This new low pressure system that is building over Cambodia and Vietnam, when is that going to hit and will it effect your area and the islands?

Hope you are all keeping well.

Regs

Caroline

Camille said...

Hi Caroline,

The 8th November right now looks pretty good and towards the end of the month I expect Samui to be in full swing with only some occasional rain and not the heavy stuff like the past few days.

Phi Phi and Lanta and those areas should be very nice upon arrival!

Gail said...

Hi my name is Gail and I have been following your blog for the last couple of day's and was wondering if you could help me as I can't get very much information about the flood here in the Uk I am due to travel to Koh Samui on the 10th Nov and will be staying at moo 5 Bean Plai Leam area can you let me know if you still have rain and if the water has started to go down yet and have you had a lot of damage hope you can help keep up the blog it's very interesting

Thank you,
Gail

Camille said...

Hi Gail,

My house is in Plai Laem and although it’s pretty chaotic there right now with lots of water on some roads (between Big Buddha’s 7-11 pretty much until in front of our house), by the 10th I expect all the water to have more or less gone off the roads.
Right now there’s still rain but electricity was on almost all day and later today the wind force should recede and the rain should stop or drastically slow down.

Unless there’s a follow up on the current storm, you should be fine come the 10th November, in my opinion.

Hope this helps for now.

Anonymous said...

Hi Camille, Got am email from my friend who seems to be stuck on Ko Samui. She was due to fly to bangkok Thursday 4th november at 6 am I think....last I heard from her she didnt know if the flight was going. DO you by any chance know if the airport is open and flights are leaving?

Any response much appreciated

Camille said...

Hi,

Apparently the airport opened yesterday around 3pm and flights started again. There may be a back log though.

Jennah said...

hi camille! have been reading your blog non-stoop the last few days trying to keep up with the flooding that has occurred in samui. me and my boyfriend are due to arrive on the island monday morning (nov 8th-16th). i've also been following several weather forecasts indicating that nicer weather should be coming along by the time we get there. am i getting my hopes up or do you think we've got a good chance of a few days of sun??

we will be staying at the bandara resort in bophut and i was wondering if you knew how bad the flooding was in that area and if it should subside by monday.

keep up the great work. your blogs are awesome!

jennah

abby said...

Hi Camille

We are scheduled to fly to Koh Samui for 4days3nights trip.

How is the weather now past afternoon?
Are many areas affected with flood?
Are shops opened?
Is it dangerous to go Koh Tao these few days?

What are the alternatives for tourist if we could not go island hopping?

Cheers!

Unknown said...

Thank you Camille you have reassured me and I feel much beeter about my trip now.

Thank you again

Caroline

Andrea said...

Hi Camille
Thanks so much for getting back to me. We are supposed to be staying at Sala Samui near Choeng Mon beach. Do you know if this area has been badly affected?
My main concern is being stuck inside with limited power with a 15 month old :( Kind regards Andrea

Camille said...

Hi Andrea,

Usually Choengmon was badly affected but with the new drainage system things are a lot better and water is gone a lot faster nowadays.
I'm not sure if they have a generator there, maybe try contacting the resort directly.

Camille said...

Hi Jennah,

Bophud is hit particularly hard this time but I don't have exact knowledge about the Bandara although that is slightly at higher ground and I expect it to be fine.

If the new depression that's forming over Vietnam and Cambodia keeps a low profile, things should be fine come the 8th November.

Right now I think it's best to cross your fingers!

Camille said...

Hi Abby,

Past afternoon it's been dry and there were even glimpses of sunshine!

The water is slowly receding and shops are opening again with electricity on again for extended periods of time. Things will slowly but surely return to normal.

Camille said...

Hi Caroline,

Glad that I could be of help! Hope you will enjoy your stay!

Unknown said...

Hi Camille,

We hope so to. We have our fingers crossed that the low depression thats forming over vietnam and cambodia stays well away and that samui can get back to normal again with hopefuly some sunshine.

We will be staying at the Chaba Cabana Beach Resort and Spa. I have emailed them to see if they are ok but haven't heard back. Do you know if they were affected at all by the floods?

Congrats with all the hits your getting. You have been such a great help.

Caroline

Camille said...

Hi Caroline,

Everybody in Southern Thailand hopes that the new depression is not getting anywhere near Thailand at all!

Unfortunately I can't help you with any info about Chaba Cabana.
Keep trying to reach them, electricity is on again so they should be getting your mails.

Good Luck.

Unknown said...

Thanks for all your advice.

Hope to be able to come to Samui still on the 27th November.

Fingers crossed.

Caroline x

Camille said...

@Caroline,

You're welcome and I think you'll be fine by than.