Weather
Chiang Mai Province has much the same climate as adjacent provinces in the north. Most visitors will find the weather is most enjoyable from November to mid-February, when temperatures are mild and rain is scarce.
During the cool season (December to February), temperatures can warrant a jacket or pullover at night, particularly at higher elevations.
From February until the monsoon season begins in June, a thick haze often forms over the city, a combination of dust and smoke from the burning off of rice fields near the city. The hot season (March to May) can be brutal in Chiang Mai, although temperatures don’t burst the thermometer as much as they do in Lampang or in northeastern Thailand. You’ll find some relief from the heat (and to a lesser extent, the smoke) at the cooler elevations of Chiang Dao and Doi Inthanon, or anywhere else where you can get above the Mae Ping plains.
The annual monsoons are generally lighter in Chiang Mai than in central or southern Thailand, lasting from June to October, and rarely into November. Chiang Mai city can flood when rains are unusually heavy.
