Heavy rain in Thailand: weather warning for harvest and health!

Heavy rain in Thailand: weather warning for harvest and health!

The Thai Meteorological Institute has issued a new weather warning for the coming days. This applies from October 29th to November 2nd, 2025 and brings with it unstable weather. Northern and northeastern Thailand as well as the capital Bangkok are particularly affected, where increased rainfall, in some cases even heavy rain, is expected. The background to this change in weather is a strong low pressure area that is moving over the coast of southern Vietnam. The public is asked to pay attention to their health and exercise caution, especially when traveling in rainy areas. Thairath reports that heavy rainfall and accumulations of rain may potentially lead to flooding. Farmers are urged to take appropriate protective measures to minimize possible crop losses.

Although the advice for caution is important at this time, climate change is a long-term issue that is increasingly affecting the country's agriculture and economy. A report from the Kasikorn Research Center highlights that tropical countries like Thailand are particularly suffering from the consequences of climate change. Climate change is leading to fluctuating and declining yields for key crops such as rice and sugar cane, which together account for around 60% of the cultivated area. In 2023, agriculture has already been impacted by a strong El Niño, resulting in dramatically low water levels in reservoirs and a shortage of rainfall. Estimates of damage to agriculture are over 48 billion baht. The transition from El Niño to La Niña in 2024 could also result in both floods and droughts. The rice harvest could fall by more than 9% in the northeast, 8.6% and 8.7% in the north and center, respectively. Thansettakij points out that many farmers see climate change as a crucial factor in their yields.

Agriculture in transition

The challenges posed by climate change not only affect the harvest of rice, but also other agricultural products. Samit Taweelearnithi from Nithi Foods reports that the unstable weather conditions are also affecting their yields. Nevertheless, an improvement in yields is expected for 2025 due to more stable weather conditions. Nithi Foods supplies major industrial customers in Thailand but also exports to the United States and has a turnover of about 370 million baht. Nopda Athikakhamphu, CEO of Nopda Superfoods, emphasizes that the garlic harvest remains stable as the cultivated areas are adapted to the weather conditions. It is important that the region also focuses on introducing and adapting sustainable farming practices in order to better cope with future challenges.

However, the impacts of climate change are not just limited to agriculture. The tourism sector in Thailand also faces significant challenges. According to Thailandsun, the tourism sector is suffering from increasingly extreme weather conditions. While some regions benefit from shorter rainy seasons in the short term, others struggle with longer rainy seasons and coastal erosion. In addition, the high temperatures recorded in recent years are putting an additional strain on the attractiveness of tourist destinations. Bangkok is among the ten provinces with the highest risk of flooding, exacerbated by extensive construction projects.

Thailand has set ambitious climate goals: carbon neutrality by 2050 and zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2065. These ambitious plans were announced by the Prime Minister at the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference. In order to get closer to these goals, effective measures and collaboration between different sectors are necessary. Consumer awareness of sustainable energy consumption can also make a decisive contribution. If the country generates a large part of its own electricity through photovoltaics using its intense solar radiation, this could alleviate some of the problems, although there is currently a lack of compensation for feeding it into the grid.

So the coming days not only bring weather warnings, but also remind us of the long-term challenges of climate change that are becoming increasingly noticeable in Thailand. It remains to be seen how the population and the economy will respond to these challenges and what measures will be taken to lead the country sustainably into the future.