Temperature drops in Thailand, tourists flock to North

BANGKOK, Dec 13 Temperatures in Thailand--including the capital--have dropped ahead of the New Year holiday when the countrys high mountains are normally cramped with tourists wanting to experience the cold.

The intense high pressure weather pattern from the north has brought cool to cold weather over the North, the Northeast, the East and the Central regions, including metropolitan Bangkok.
The minimum temperature in the capital, Bangkok, dropped to 17-19 degrees Celsius in the morning with strong wind and a cool morning mist.

The high mountains are experiencing intense cold with isolated frost. People are advised to wear thick clothes due to the suddenly changeable weather, the Meteorological Department warned.

In the northern province of Chiang Mai, the temperature was 16 degrees Celsius on Tuesday morning.

The temperature on Doi Inthanon, Thailands highest mountain, has been falling, and experiencing frost, for almost a week. Up to 10,000 tourists visited Doi Inthanon over the past weekend.

Kriangsak Thanomphan, head of Doi Inthanon national Park said that the national parks campsites and cottages can accommodate 1,200 tourists per day, and they were fully occupied over the weekend.

Meanwhile, in the South, the active northeast monsoon brought scattered thundershowers in the South east-coast with waves 2-4 metres high in the lower Gulf from Nakhon Si Thammarat southward, said the weather bureau.

Coastal residents are warned of high surf. All ships should proceed with caution and small boats stay ashore. (MCOT online news)