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What to expect in OCTOBER 2005

Statistics

	Average temperature 25.8 C Average rainfall 125.5 mm Cloud cover 6.2/10 Humidity 79 % Rainy days 11.1 Sunshine 224 hrs.

Personally, your weatherman likes all three seasons - though if he can get away from this part of the world during the hot and rainy seasons he does so without too much regret. But the cool season now…that's another matter. From October to early February he resents every day spent away from the North, even avoiding trips to Bangkok. This is despite noticing a thinning of the blood over the last couple of years, a week or so in December/early January when he's likely to look at his blue-tinged hands during early-morning gardening and say, "Hey, this is a just a degree or two cooler than I like it!" Though a check of the thermometer shows we're down to a low of 9 or 10C, and that's hardly even cool by European/ American standards.

But that's later. October's transitional, of course. After the monsoon maximals of August-September, the rains tail away rapidly, though during the first weeks of this month there can still be heavy falls. After that, the occasional cyclone can blow in from the South China Sea, arriving in the North as a tropical storm: and some years back there used to be a week or so at the end of Dec., early Jan., when there was grey weather with drizzle down on the plain, and quite heavy rain in the hills. Otherwise, from early November it's likely to be cool till the end of February, and dry right through to April. The turn around is usually right in the middle of this month. Instead of the warm, wet winds blowing up from the Indian Ocean, overnight there can be air with an altogether different feel to it from China: the sky cloudless and the humidity way down.

Anyway, this is the time when we bring clothes and blankets out for airing, getting the smell of mould out of them. And if we're heading for the hills, it's a good idea to bring out jackets and pullovers too. A word of warning, though. Oddly enough, in spite of the rains dying away, this is the time when - under cloudless or nearly cloudless skies - the vegetation goes into overtime, paths that in the previous months were easy to follow choked, even difficult to find at all: trips up mountains like Doi Chiang Dao, which occasionally stands out sharp on the horizon to the north of Chiang Mai, not recommended, not only tangled wet vegetation to contend with but also solid cloud that clings to the mountain, socking it in till about mid-December. This is also the time when roads get mended, but don't expect too much, too soon.

Anyway, enjoy the weather this month, knowing there's even better on the way.