Phuket Climate
Phuket has three main seasons:
- Cool season (late November to mid-February)
- Hot season (mid-February to early May)
- Monsoon - rainy season (May to November)
Cool season
Late November or early December will bring cooler winds from China to Thailand - even all the way down to Phuket - 1200 km south of the Chinese border. This represents the end of the monsoon/rainy season and brings cooler evenings to the island. This is a time of celebration - it's the beginning of the high season for the tourist industry.
You can expect blue skies, lower humidity, cooler temperatures and very little rainfall. The beaches are also at their best at this time of the year. Christmas and New Year marks the high season with several hundred thousand tourists visiting Phuket and the Andaman region of Thailand.
Hot season
This is the time of the year you will hear Thais - and local expatriates - complain of the weather. The temperatures can reach higher than 35C, the weather is more dry, but by late March the higher humidity and higher temperatures will set in.
The hot season also marks the traditional Thai New Year (Songkran) on the 13th of April every year.
Monsoon
The monsoon winds from the south west starts in late April or early May and will bring frequent rain to Phuket. May is usually one of the wettest months, along with September and October. The monsoon will also bring large waves and strong, dangerous undercurrents to the beaches along the west coast of Phuket.
The red flags are out on the beaches and should be respected. A large number of visitors do perish on the beaches during the monsoon season.
The traditional summer months in Europe (June - August) will often bring nice, cooler weather with some thunder storms in the late afternoon or late night. For local expatriates the summer months is often preferred to the hot season. There will often be days or weeks with no rain.
Comments and Updates
Do you have a comment or do you want to help us to update the content on this page to be up to date? Please use the comment field.
Thank you.
