Thai monsoon - how wet? Beach holiday early May a bad idea?

[mat1227]

Evening all - quick question to those who know about these things if I may - we've got 8 days in Thailand from Tuesday, were hoping to spend time in the sunshine on the beaches of Koh Samet (Rayong province).

A quick look at the weather forecast on the Beeb shows thunderstorms every day.



Is the thai monsoon likely to be:

a.) Set in rain, storms and overcast skies. Not beach weather
b.) The odd exciting storm every day, but not constantly overcast otherwise really sunny and nice for the majority

Can anyone shed any light?

Flight fiasco basically pushed our trip further into the monsoon season than we'd intended. If there are areas of Thailand other than Koh Samet with decent beaches that'd be appreciably better in terms of weather over the next fortnight, I'd be very interested to hear.

Thanks muchly have been planning this for ages so determined to get our sunshine one way or the other!

[Si 330]

Last time I was there in the rainy season it was good weather until late afternoon then one almighty storm with flash floods, short while later back to been good.
When i lived in Hong Kong in the rainy season it rained for days none stop.

[v15ben]

I believe the Thai monsoon season is more in the sunny, spectacular storm, sunny again. Rinse and repeat (literally!)

I am going there briefly and to Laos in August so hopefully it isn't too wet

[paul.a]

Hi iam actually in koh samui at the moment and it is fantastic 90 degrees + although ive only been here 3 days we havnt seen a black cloud anywhere and it forecast thunderstorms before we came out. we were also delayed by a week and its pushed my holiday a week further into may but by all accounts the monsoon in may consists of the odd thunderstorm in the afternoon or evening then sunshine. Go enjoy

Edited by paul.a on Monday 26th April 16:05

[mat1227]

Awesome thanks everyone just what I wanted to hear!

[Matt_N]

We were in Phuket this time two years ago.

At around mid day each day in would chuck it down with rain for about 20-30 mins, then return to glorious sunshine.

[mike325112]

Not wanting to ruin your holiday but:

The Foreign Office said:

The overall level of the advice has not changed on; we currently advise against all but essential travel to the whole of Thailand.

Just thought you may want to know.

Edited by mike325112 on Thursday 29th April 10:21

[Mr Darcy]

If its monsoon on the adaman side of Thailand then it will be non monsoon season on the Gulf side and vice versa obviously (Monsoon moves eastwards). It can rain rather hard for upto a few hours. However you will get earthy run off into the ocean so it wont be crystal clear water. Plus the seas can be a bit choppy to say the least which makes for rather unpleasent ferry rides to certain islands.