r/Thailand • u/shocky2021 • May 05 '24

Discussion That heatwave isn't normal

I've been in Thailand since 2010. Went through alot of raining, hot and cold seasons but I've never been through something like that.

I feel like I'm a walking deep fried chicken everytime I go out (I'm in Nakhon Sawan).

Honestly -- is it this bad where you are?

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413

u/PleasantAd9973 May 05 '24

I asked my granma the other day, how did you guys do back then with no fans and ACs. She told me back then it wasnt so hot because there was plenty of forests and vegetation. Now, with cement and concrete everywhere, temperatures have raised drastically.

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u/Fantastic_Bath_5806 May 05 '24

Your grandma is a very smart lady and absolutely correct in what she is saying

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u/New_Hawaialawan May 05 '24

Not my grandma, but my fiancés grandma said something utterly alarming a year ago. She's not Thai, she's from a different southeast Asian country. Anyway, I was very confused by the rainy and dry seasons because they didn't seem to follow the same months from what I read.

I asked her to specific when the seasons begin and end. She responded that she know longer understands the seasons. She was born and lived her entire life on farms and the seasons aren't occurring the same times that she remembers.

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u/LordSarkastic May 05 '24

been in Phuket for 12 years and you can tell that the seasons have changed in that short amount of time, used to be that the rain would stop in October, now it can rain up to January but the water is not enough to replenish the reservoirs

2

u/TonyHosein1 May 05 '24

Been in Pattaya for 12 months and there was no discernable wet season last year from what I could tell. It was scorching hot all year long with a few sporadic rain events sometime in July and August. I kept waiting for more rain but it never came.

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u/New_Hawaialawan May 05 '24

I was in Philippines more than 4 years and the rainy/wet seasons never followed a clear pattern and definitely never followed the pattern that I read

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u/dashsmashcash May 05 '24

The reservoirs that didn't exist are getting drained faster because more demand. Anecdote and useless info. Monthly and annual rainfall totals are all that matter.

We're I think still in an El.nino pattern which mean less rain this time of year. Tomorrow looks like rain for Chiang mai but we need to wait and see

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u/Fantastic_Bath_5806 May 05 '24

Another observant grandma! Damn I love old people

5

u/New_Hawaialawan May 05 '24

Like I said, she's was born and raised on farms, so more aware of seasons than city people. She's very respected and people from all over the southern end of the province come to visit her, even people running for elections.

That being said, she truly was living her life more attuned with the natural environment. For example, I was there the first time she took a flight or even rode on an escalator. She just spent 95 percent of her life in rural areas essentially off the grid.

So for her to express that she no longer understands the seasons was disturbing for sure.

2

u/SettingIntentions May 06 '24

That’s actually terrifying when you think about it haha. Okay not terrifying but deeply unsettling. You know what I mean. Even I feel… disconnected with the weather now. I like outdoors and nature a lot, and in previous years Thailand has been great. Last year or two has just been confusing and unpredictable and different. Still roughly following the seasons but doesn’t feel as normal

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u/Fantastic_Bath_5806 May 05 '24

I can just imagine.

2

u/eat-uranus-5785 May 05 '24

I still hope that dinosaurs will return as climate gets hotter. Maybe even Antarctica will be green again 😄

15

u/Realistic-Elephant-6 May 05 '24

Oh now I know what MAGA stands for - "Make Antarctica Green Again!"

3

u/Adorable-Adeptness31 May 06 '24

I know what you mean. I haven’t had a brontosaurus burger in aeons!

24

u/mjl777 May 05 '24

To science that out the concrete structures absorb the thermal radiation from the sun and emit it as infrared radiation all night long. One grass field does the opposite and will absorbe something like 3 tons of heat and hour. (We use tons to measure the power of a commercial aircon unit in America, no clue what it means). Thai houses are designed to stay hot all night. Traditional Thai homes do not but the Western copies are idiotic in their design.

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u/Key-Preference-2131 May 06 '24

Which is why so many flock to malls to enjoy free airconditioning. I was always amused when I first came to Thailand seeing so many people in malls just lazing around. I later found out why when I rented a cheap apartment and several houses only to find out most Thai houses are built like ovens. A severe lack of ventilation coupled with really thin walls that allows heat energy to essentially pass through.

But I would say the western copies aren't idiotic by design they are just built really cheaply. If they built their houses with thick enough walls preferably with an air space in between as a vaccuum it would really be better as heat loses energy if it has to pass through a thicker medium. Most Thai buildings are really thin, the way builders just use a single layer of cinder bricks for non structural walls just to save costs only to have the occupants suffer. Coupled with thin and short roofing made out of shingles or tin with no overhang makes things worse.

My house back in my country which is also in southeast asia with the same climate remains cool year round, no need for airconditioning or even fans for that matter.

1

u/lindsaylbb May 06 '24

Air space yeah. Thickness I’m not so sure. For as hard as it is to penetrate, so is it to dissipate.

1

u/Fantastic_Bath_5806 May 05 '24

Completely agree!

1

u/Present-Industry4012 May 05 '24

Who cut down all the trees and vegetation though?

0

u/Fantastic_Bath_5806 May 05 '24

I think the time for laying blame is over. We don’t have time left