Climate battle royale: Southeast Asian edition
Jun 7, 2020 5:32:40 GMT -5
irlinit and Benfxmth like this
Post by chesternz on Jun 7, 2020 5:32:40 GMT -5
The recent thread on Asian climates got me thinking about Southeast Asian climates in particular. A region made famous by backpackers and sex tourists from every corner of the globe, SEA offers a "wide variety" of climates. Let's take a journey arcing from near the equator up to the subtropics. Which is your pick?
Cheat sheet: Sapa is coolest, Mandalay is sunniest and has the hottest summers, Bogor is wettest, Da Lat is mildest, Bandung has the most storms.
Bandung for me. Can't beat those eternal warm-but-not-hot temps and an absurd number of thunderstorms.
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Jakarta - A good blend of sun and rain with very consistent temps. Has a classic monsoonal rain pattern despite its near-equatorial location.
Bogor - A short drive South of Jakarta makes a big difference in rainfall. This is by far the wettest of the bunch.
Bandung - Traveling even further South (and climbing a few hundred metres) we reach this place. It features eternally mild-to-warm weather and boasts an incredible 218 thunderstorm days per year - one of the highest totals in the world. Sunshine hours may be overstated in this case though as another source gives around 1800 hrs.
Singapore - Next to no variation, albeit a noticeable peak in rainfall. Tons of thunderstorms - nearly 200 per year!
Yangon AKA Rangoon - This is one of those Jekyll and Hide climates. It features both a long, intense monsoon season and a lengthy dry season. Flooding half the year, drought the other half.
Mandalay - For those who want a drier Burmese climate. This city features some of the hottest temps in the region.
Bangkok - Kind of a middle ground between the Burmese and Indonesian climates. It has a pronounced dry season, a dual-peak rainfall pattern and a decent number of thunderstorms (although nothing compared to Singapore and Indonesia).
Chiang Rai - Now let's head up to the North of Thailand. Nights become much cooler but the days remain consistently warm year round.
Da Lat - Now we come to Vietnam. We'll start in the Southern highland town of Da Lat. This is where we finally get into the cooler climes. It's like a year-round London summer - nice and mild.
Da Nang - On the central coast we find this city, much hotter in summer than Da Lat but the winter is still noticeably cooler than the other climates.
Hanoi - Up north the weather gets much cooler (and cloudier) in winter but summers are still typically tropical.
Sa Pa - Up in the mountains of Northern Vietnam at 1500 m elevation. By far the coolest climate in this battle. It even snows there occasionally!
Cheat sheet: Sapa is coolest, Mandalay is sunniest and has the hottest summers, Bogor is wettest, Da Lat is mildest, Bandung has the most storms.
Bandung for me. Can't beat those eternal warm-but-not-hot temps and an absurd number of thunderstorms.
---
Jakarta - A good blend of sun and rain with very consistent temps. Has a classic monsoonal rain pattern despite its near-equatorial location.
Bogor - A short drive South of Jakarta makes a big difference in rainfall. This is by far the wettest of the bunch.
Bandung - Traveling even further South (and climbing a few hundred metres) we reach this place. It features eternally mild-to-warm weather and boasts an incredible 218 thunderstorm days per year - one of the highest totals in the world. Sunshine hours may be overstated in this case though as another source gives around 1800 hrs.
Singapore - Next to no variation, albeit a noticeable peak in rainfall. Tons of thunderstorms - nearly 200 per year!
Yangon AKA Rangoon - This is one of those Jekyll and Hide climates. It features both a long, intense monsoon season and a lengthy dry season. Flooding half the year, drought the other half.
Mandalay - For those who want a drier Burmese climate. This city features some of the hottest temps in the region.
Bangkok - Kind of a middle ground between the Burmese and Indonesian climates. It has a pronounced dry season, a dual-peak rainfall pattern and a decent number of thunderstorms (although nothing compared to Singapore and Indonesia).
Chiang Rai - Now let's head up to the North of Thailand. Nights become much cooler but the days remain consistently warm year round.
Da Lat - Now we come to Vietnam. We'll start in the Southern highland town of Da Lat. This is where we finally get into the cooler climes. It's like a year-round London summer - nice and mild.
Da Nang - On the central coast we find this city, much hotter in summer than Da Lat but the winter is still noticeably cooler than the other climates.
Hanoi - Up north the weather gets much cooler (and cloudier) in winter but summers are still typically tropical.
Sa Pa - Up in the mountains of Northern Vietnam at 1500 m elevation. By far the coolest climate in this battle. It even snows there occasionally!
Residence:
). Bandung is fine as well, nice enough nights. 
I myself am a product of a white guy with an Asian woman. That was in the 1800s though.
