Hi Fleur,
Let me just say that I hope that you like HOT and SWEATY weather if you decide to live in LOS for any lenght of time. I am a person who rarely ever breaks a sweat normally here in the US. I basically have to be doing heavy physcial work(like running a jackhammer!) on a hot day to even get any perspiration under my arms, and never get it on other parts of my body. I go to the gym regularly and work out for hours without so much as a drop of sweat.
However, when I was in LOS for the entire month of April in 2004, I could not walk a block in BKK without my shirt being nearly drenched back and front, and mopping it from my brow. At no time during the day could I spend more than an hour out of doors, and it was only a little more bearable at night. It was like living in a furnace there. Not as bad for Thais, because they can take the heat better, and don't sweat so easily. Phuket was a little better but only if you were within a block of the beach. Samui was better only if you were within 50 meters of the water's edge.
That experience really shattered my dream of someday living in LOS, because I could never bear that kind of heat for long. However, I was told by Thais at the time that it was an exceptionally hot year in 2004. Other years I have been there only in December, January, February, and March. Dec., Jan., and Feb. are really quite nice. Usually it is only about 90 degrees F in the daytime in Dec. and Jan. and low to mid 70's at night, which really complements the late night party lifestyle in Patong, when the winter evenings are quite lovely.
This year Jan. was great as usual. By Feb. 1, it started to heat up and I noticed myself breaking a sweat easily, just by walking a block or two. But it backed off after the first week, and didn't really heat up much over 90 again until March. Even March was bearable, although noticeably hotter.
I have never been there in the summer or autumn months when it rains a lot. In the winter it doesn't rain hardly at al, and I always enjoyed it when it does. Quite dramatic with thunder and lightning and very refreshing for a little while afterwards. The weather reports for most of LOS very little during those month, usually saying high of 89 degrees F with chance of thunder showers. That seems to be the weather report every single day in the summer.
In Chiang Mai, it does get cold at night in the winter. By 11:00 PM, it is time to don long sleeves, and at about 5:00 AM, it is quite chilly and I had to ask for extra blankets both times I was there in January.
I've reconsidered the possibility that I may want to live there some day, but if I ever did, I would leave in April and take a trip to a cooler climate. Of course, I would have to experience the summers there before I could ever make such a decision. Reading weather reports or hearing of someone else's experiences is no substitute for first-hand experience.
JayBee
