Take a bath in front of the whole neighborhood

That's what my wife does in her Southern Thai village, doesn't think a thing of it, carrying on several conversations at once. The Thai bathe at least twice a day, and in all the years -- more than 50 -- I've been here, I've never smelled a single case of B.O., even on crowded buses in the heat of the afternoon in Bangkok. Remarkable how at the end of a hot day, everyone's shirt seems as freshly pressed as in the morning.

It was a shock to move from Thailand in 1963 to England, where many people bathed once a week. Standing in line next to nice English ladies one day at Sainsbury market, I actually thought I might be downwind from the cheese department.

Thermal misery index: Bangkok v Phnom Penh

Having spent some time in Phnom Penh over the past month, it seemed to me that the Cambodian city was much more hot and glaring than Bangkok. So today back in BKK I checked this by compiling one of my favorite indexes for the two cities: Extreme Cooling Degree Days (CDD29). This was derived from the excellent web site degreedays.net which allows you to calculate cooling degree days based on any temperature base you like. In this case I used a base of 29C (84F) which is the maximum allowable temperature for comfortable (sweat-free) sleeping IMHO.

Cambodian expats escribe PP as insufferable in the hot season (April-May) and the above graph suggests it is a little but not much worse than Bangkok at that critical time of year.

On the other hand PP has many fewer high-rise buildings than BKK, and the shading seems to me much less there, the sun penetrating down to street level. A more accurate comparison would require a careful comparison of downtown urban microclimates, and also, I conclude, consideration of the degree that uncomfortable glare aggravates the subjective sense of thermal discomfort.

Thermal misery index: Bangkok v Phnom Penh

Having spent some time in Phnom Penh over the past month, it seemed to me that the Cambodian city was much more hot and glaring than Bangkok. So today back in BKK I checked this by compiling one of my favorite indexes for the two cities: Extreme Cooling Degree Days (CDD29). This was derived from the excellent web site degreedays.net which allows you to calculate cooling degree days based on any temperature base you like. In this case I used a base of 29C (84F) which is the maximum allowable temperature for comfortable (sweat-free) sleeping IMHO.

Cambodian expats escribe PP as insufferable in the hot season (April-May) and the above graph suggests it is a little but not much worse than Bangkok at that critical time of year.

On the other hand PP has many fewer high-rise buildings than BKK, and the shading seems to me much less there, the sun penetrating down to street level. A more accurate comparison would require a careful comparison of downtown urban microclimates, and also, I conclude, consideration of the degree that uncomfortable glare aggravates the subjective sense of thermal discomfort.

2015 a moderate hot season so far

Notwithstanding some excited tourist twitters on the subject, I fail to find anything special about hot season heat this year. In fact early rains have tended to moderate heat buildup. If SE Asia is being threatened by global warming, it is not showing up in Bangkok temperatures.

Red is temp at Don Muang, green is dew point. Temps are topping out at about 35 C. So far, anyway.

2015 a moderate hot season so far

Notwithstanding some excited tourist twitters on the subject, I fail to find anything special about hot season heat this year. In fact early rains have tended to moderate heat buildup. If SE Asia is being threatened by global warming, it is not showing up in Bangkok temperatures.

Red is temp at Don Muang, green is dew point. Temps are topping out at about 35 C. So far, anyway.

Amazing Thailand, disaster floods and drought at the same time

Or is that the media love to wish bad things come on the happy life in our little Thai Shire? Or perhaps to use the place as a bogus locale of a coming apocalypse?

Amazing Thailand, disaster floods and drought at the same time

Or is that the media love to wish bad things come on the happy life in our little Thai Shire? Or perhaps to use the place as a bogus locale of a coming apocalypse?

Take a bath in front of the whole neighborhood

That's what my wife does in her Southern Thai village, doesn't think a thing of it, carrying on several conversations at once. The Thai bathe at least twice a day, and in all the years -- more than 50 -- I've been here, I've never smelled a single case of B.O., even on crowded buses in the heat of the afternoon in Bangkok. Remarkable how at the end of a hot day, everyone's shirt seems as freshly pressed as in the morning.

It was an olefactory shock to move from Thailand in 1963 to England, where many people bathed 
once a week. Standing in line at Sainsbury, you thought you were in the cheese department.

Bangkok hot season

Following life through Bangkok's hot season -- without air conditioning. Well, most of the time.

I will try to keep this blog growing from now until the crazy peak of the hot season in April.

View from my bedroom follows. See the little circle? We'll be talking more about that place, my traditional teak Thai house right in the middle of the city, a study in thermal contrast.

Global Warming in Bangkok? Take a second look

For years we have been seeing graphs like this one for Bangkok, showing how the city is going to get insufferably hot in the coming years becuse of CO2 induced global warming, with frightening rises in sea level. My village neighbor way up on the Korat plateau even asked me if he should be worried about the sea rising that high.

But wait a minute here... a few years back the Japanese researcher Taniguchi had been doing some careful measurements of ground temperatures over the years and he raises some questions about all of this.

For example in this graph he compares Bangkok temperatures at Don Muang airport -- the usual historical measurement spot -- with temperatures in Lopburi. Seems that the airport temps are rising, but not those in the countryside. Think about that for a minutes. Aren't airports where most temperatures showing "global warming" are measured?

Here is a satellite image of the ground surface temperature of Bangkok in 2009.

So the question is, is most of the alleged "global warming" in Thailand (and elsewhere?) really just urban heat island effects around old airports where temperatures are measured?