Live Rain Radar for Bangkok
Track rain across Bangkok in real time with Rain Viewer, a hyperlocal rain radar app, updated every 5 minutes, street by street.
Local Weather Context
Bangkok rain doesn't warn you. Mornings are often overcast and deceptively calm, then somewhere between 2pm and 6pm a convective storm locks in over one part of the city and drops hard — typically 30 minutes to two hours of intense rain that the flat, low-lying delta underneath it can't absorb fast enough. The drainage system hits its limit at 60mm per hour. Many storms exceed that.
The result is predictable in pattern but not in location. On any given afternoon in September, heavy rain could be sitting over Chatuchak while Silom stays dry, or flooding Sukhumvit's underpasses while On Nut is clear. Locals have developed a reflex for it: step into a mall, wait in a BTS station, check whether the soi is passable before committing to a Grab. The city moves around the rain rather than through it.
What makes Bangkok genuinely difficult to forecast is that the precise location of each storm only becomes clear in the hour before it arrives. A 7-day forecast tells you September will be wet. Only the live radar tells you whether the cell currently forming northwest of the city will reach your street or track south toward Samut Prakan instead.
Seasons
Wet season (May–October)
The southwest monsoon establishes itself from late May or early June, bringing daily afternoon and evening storms through to October. September is the peak — the most rain days, the heaviest cells, and the highest chance that any given afternoon ends with flooded streets somewhere in the city. Storms arrive as short intense bursts rather than sustained all-day rain, which means a wet morning is rare but a wet evening is almost guaranteed at the height of the season.
Transition months (May and October)
May is when the season announces itself, often with storms that arrive before people expect them. October tapers gradually — some years dry quickly, others linger. These months have the lowest forecast reliability for exact timing, making real-time radar more useful than any extended outlook.
Dry season (November–April)
Monthly rainfall falls below 50mm. Isolated showers still develop — brief, easy to see on the radar well before they arrive. The city runs cooler and drier, and the afternoon storm rhythm that defines the wet season disappears almost entirely until the following May.
NEW! Tap Anywhere to Inspect
2 Feb 2026One touch, and the rain at that exact spot explains itself—revealing intensity, precipitation type, cloud and air temperatures, and live national alerts, while making even the tiniest rain pockets easy to pinpoint and compare.
Use Cases
Deciding whether to wait out a shower or move
Bangkok's storms pass in 30–90 minutes. If the radar shows the cell is already over your area and moving east, waiting 20 minutes in a coffee shop is the right call. If it's still approaching and showing high intensity, you have time to reroute before it arrives. That decision is only possible with a live map.
Navigating Sukhumvit and the low-lying sois during peak hours
Flash floods on Sukhumvit and its side streets form fast and clear in 2–3 hours, but the traffic snarl they create lasts much longer. Seeing which parts of the Sukhumvit corridor are in the heavy band right now lets drivers and Grab users reroute to elevated roads before ground-level routes become impassable.
Timing the first 10 minutes after rain starts
Locals know to avoid the road for the first 10 minutes of a downpour — oil slicks on Bangkok's streets make the initial onset the most dangerous window for motorbikes and scooters. Knowing rain is 15 minutes out gives riders time to stop, not just react.
Planning morning temple visits and afternoon activities
Bangkok's rain is heavily afternoon-weighted. Mornings are almost always workable. Tourists planning Wat Pho, the Grand Palace, or a Chao Phraya boat tour in the morning have a reliable window — the radar confirms whether that window holds before they leave the hotel.
Construction and outdoor crew management
A cell showing 45+ dBZ intensity and 20 minutes out on the radar is enough lead time to bring workers down from elevated sites and secure materials before conditions become dangerous. The difference between a planned pause and an emergency one.
Coverage
Rain Viewer combines radar signals from stations across the central plains to give Bangkok a single, continuous map. From Bangkok, the same map shows rain developing in Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani, Samut Prakan, Samut Sakhon, and Nakhon Pathom — the full commuter and logistics belt surrounding the city.
Bangkok's flat terrain means radar coverage is consistent across the entire province with no shadow zones. Storms approaching from the Gulf of Thailand typically move in from the south and southeast, crossing Samut Prakan before reaching the city centre — visible on the map with enough lead time to act.
What Our Users Say
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Explore Radar Coverage
FAQ
How often does the Rain Viewer map update for Bangkok?
Every 5 minutes, drawing from Thai Meteorological Department radar networks. During Bangkok's afternoon storm window — when conditions change fastest — you're seeing the map update as each radar sweep completes.
Why is it so hard to predict exactly where Bangkok rain will fall?
Bangkok sits on a flat coastal plain with no terrain to channel or deflect storms. Urban heat accelerates convection unevenly across different parts of the city, meaning a storm can lock in over one district while a neighbouring one stays completely dry. The Thai Meteorological Department's 5–7 day forecasts are reliable for seasonal patterns, but the precise location of any given afternoon cell only becomes clear in the final hour — which is exactly when a live radar map is most useful.
Can I set a rain alert for my location in Bangkok?
Yes. Set your home, office, school, or any Bangkok location and receive a push notification when rain is approaching — with enough lead time to make a decision. You can also set an intensity threshold so light drizzle doesn't trigger an alert, only rain that actually changes your plans.
Does Bangkok flooding clear quickly?
Localised flash floods in low-lying areas like Chatuchak, Thawi Watthana, and parts of Sukhumvit typically clear within 2–3 hours once the rain stops. The flooding itself moves fast; the traffic disruption it causes lasts considerably longer. Seeing a heavy cell on the radar before it arrives lets you avoid the roads that flood first.
Is Bangkok's rainy season worth avoiding for travel?
Not necessarily. Bangkok's wet season rain falls in concentrated afternoon bursts — mornings are typically clear and usable. Tourists who check the radar before planning outdoor activities rarely lose a full day to rain. The bigger disruption is traffic, not the rain itself.
See the storm forming before it reaches your street
Bangkok's rain is fast, localised, and impossible to predict from a weekly forecast. The map updates every 5 minutes — often 2–5 minutes faster than other apps — so by the time a cell is 15 minutes from your street, you've already seen it coming.
Rain Viewer Essential gives you:
- A 2-hour rain forecast in 5-minute slices — not hourly blocks, so you can see the exact window when the storm passes and the soi is passable again
- Rain alerts that trigger before rain arrives — set your home, office, or school pickup point and get notified while you can still change your plans
- Direction arrows on the map — so even when the animation is unclear, you can see whether the cell is moving toward you or tracking away
- 48 hours of radar history — see how yesterday's storm moved through the city and recognise the same pattern forming today
- Multiple locations — track rain at your home, your kids' school, and your office at the same time
A 7-day forecast tells you September will be wet. Rain Viewer tells you whether to leave now or wait 20 minutes.
Upgrade to Essential for alerts, forecasts, and full radar history
