Today's weather for Ko Samui, Thailand24th Jul 2008 18:00

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Weather Overview for Ko Samui

Ko Samui is a popular holiday destination off the east coast of Thailand- at 228 square kilometres Ko Samui is Thailand’s third largest island and famous for its full moon parties which brings revellers and partygoers together for the all night parties. The colour and eccentric beach side towns bring year round activity and an international and bustlingly atmosphere.

The popular island is famed for its rural beach communities which offer a funky, chilled out and different way of life- which is why it has become such a popular place for those who want to escape their fast paced daily lives. Though in recent years the masses of tourism have started to overtake the island and larger hotels and a more commercial atmosphere has developed- though you can find many places on the island where this is not the case.

Ko Samui, much like all of Thailand, is hot and humid for a lot of the year, due to its tropical location and the presence of vast rainforests. Though it’s not hard to escape from the humidity at one of the island’s famed beaches. The island is circular in shape, and is only about 15km across, with the centre of the island made up of an uninhabitable mountain jungle. The various lowland areas around the mountain and on the coast are connected together by a single road, that covers the entire circumference of the island.

There are many amazing beaches on the island with Chaweng Beach covering a large portion of the island's northeast coast. Chaweng Beach and is the most crowded and tourist inundated region on the island, and while the beach is beautiful and clean, in the peak tourist periods it can be overcrowded and can occasionally become littered and the beauty of the beach is lost. Despite this, the water is still crystal clear and a very pleasant temperature, the sand is beautiful and white and the beachside is lined with a variety of accommodation and restaurants. Be careful when swimming in the summer months as the waters can often bring tides and swell, so be sure to stay close to the shore if you are not a strong swimmer.

Bang Rak, is another popular beach which lies just two kilometres east of Bhophut- known locally as the Big Buddha Beach, as here you will find the 19-metre gold tinted statue of the ancient spiritual master overlooking the entire bay. The beach is near the airport and is also one of the calmest beaches on the island- not affected as much by the surf and tides of other parts of the island.

Across the year there is very little seasonal difference in temperatures, with each month seeing daily highs of in the low 30’s and minimum temperatures of 23 to 25 degrees. The ocean temperature stays at a bath like 27 degrees for much of the year, so the only thing that really changes across the year is the rainfall- which varies quite dramatically! The wet season lasts from about May to December, with the remainder of the year being considerably drier. November is the wettest month by far, recording on average, 302mm of precipitation across the month, September and October also see significant rainfall. January to April see a lot less rain, with February only recording 8mm of precipitation on average.

Fortunately Ko Samui was unaffected by the 2004 tsunami which ravaged much of Thailand.

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