What was the weather like in Surin from May to October?

Stargazer

Surin Legend
My Thai wife and I spend half our year away (the hot half). Can anyone comment on the weather May to October this year in Surin? Amount of rain (vs. normal), heat, wind.

Our rice crop is ready for harvest around October 28. Where we are near Rattanaburi, no irrigation canal, it was apparently too dry early, so my brother-in-law pumped water from our lake to get started. Then the rains came, and he was able to top the lake back up (we grow nile tilapia there). We don't really have enough water to support rice in all our fields, as our well only produces about 4-6,000 L/day. We're considering a second well about 400 meters away in hopes of doubling our take. We want to grow a feed crop in the fields off-season to feed several cows, and that will take irrigation.
 
From my point of view, this year has been much like any other year in Surin, hot and humid with little rain to begin the 6 month period. Better than average rain over the past couple of months. A few months back, the rice crop was in dire need of rain. Perhaps now, they have too much. Full climate details are available on the web.

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This graph was prepared a few years ago which shows December and January night time temperatures around 16/17°C. Could this be global warming?

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They are averages for the month. Global warming indeed. @Yorky shivering on his stoep.
Typical false memories syndrome. A few days a month becomes the whole month.
Its not just you @Yorky. That's human nature. Having worked for the weather Bureau for 37 years. I lived and breathed this shite from the general public, day in, and day out.
My data base always one the argument. With somebody who "Thought" they knew better.
 
Hmm. Surin is a big area. We did not have 13 rain days last March in Rattanaburi, and it was a bit cooler. I may put up a quality weather station at our house, as we have a 3BB year-round fiber connection.
 
Unless you are next to a reservoir Surin province is the wrong area for your project. The area is impoverished historically due to lack of water. Even the King of Surin was beset with problems over water in the past. If you plan on depleting the ground water on a grand scale. You will meet with disaster. Even one reckless driller exploiting a water resource can destroy a whole region. Its frightening that people think ground water is limitless. Guess who's fault it will be when it fails and the neighbors want a head to cut off.?
 
I think you are overstating our impact. Our modest 4" well 40m deep is only producing about 4L of water per minute, or 5700 L per day. The water is used in irrigation, and some will make it back down to the aquifer. I doubt our modest draw will impact our neighbors. We have no illusion that there will be enough water for rice growing. Yes, it would be better if we were near a canal or river, but this is the land my wife inherited from her grandfather. It is just subsistence farming. I'm just helping our extended family do it a bit more efficiently by providing some capital to buy tools and build a little infrastructure. I don't expect to turn a profit. We're not that far from the Mun, and the government could do better extending irrigation more widely, IMHO.
 
Rice, your point is a good one, though. It certainly is possible to overdraw the aquifer. I'm going to keep records on the output to see seasonal variation and watch for any long term decline. We top the lake up in the rainy season with water from the rice fields. There is a large reservoir uphill from us that probably feeds the aquifer. Other than the termite-created gravel/sand layer about 40 meters down, there does not seem to be any other water from there down to 100 meters. When we enlarged our lake, we hit a hardpan layer about 5 meters down that the big excavator had trouble digging, so we stopped at 4 meters deep for the lake. I have been unable to find a source of a hydrology report for this area.
 
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