Summer officially starts in Thailand

BANGKOK, March 7 (TNA) -- The Meteorological Department (TMD) has announced that Thailand is already heading into the summer season, advising everyone to be on the look out for the first thunderstorms today. The Department Director-General Wanchai Sakudomchai said the summer season has now arrived in Thailand, with the highest temperature increasing on March 3 and presence of continuous hot weather during the afternoons. He said the northeastern monsoon which is passing through the country has now changed into the southeastern wind, increasing the temperature, though the north and northeast would continue to see cool weather in the mornings for a few more weeks. The Department has predicted that temperatures would be highest at the end of April, where the northeastern region could see the thermometre rising to as high as 43 degrees Celsius, while Bangkok would see temperature at the highest of 40 degrees Celsius, in which the summer season is expected to end by mid May. Nonetheless, a high pressure area is traveling down from China and would hit Thailand between March 7-10, causing the northern region to see thunderstorms with scattered showers, strong winds, and hails in some areas, whereas the northeastern region would affected in a similar way on March 7-9. The central and lower northern regions would be hit by the thunderstorms on March 8-9, said the director general, advising all people in the risk areas to refrain from staying out in the open, standing next to trees or billboard signs in the storms, as they could be seriously injured. (TNA)