Rain & the Nam Song
How the rainy season is going — the last 30 days against the long-term average and the week ahead — and what it means for the river and the roads.
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How the rainy season is going — the last 30 days against the long-term average and the week ahead — and what it means for the river and the roads.
How the rainy season is actually going here — the last 30 days against the long-term average, and the week ahead — for a town whose river, roads and dawn balloons all follow the rain.
It is the rainy season (wet / monsoon) — the Nam Song rises and runs brown; tubing and kayaking close when it is high. August is usually wettest, and heavy rain can flood low ground and cut Route 13.
| Season | When | |
|---|---|---|
| Cool dry season | 1 November – 28 February | |
| Hot dry season | 1 March – 30 April | |
| Rainy seasonwet / monsoon | 1 May – 31 October | now |
Season edges drift from year to year — treat these as the usual pattern, not exact dates.
That is close to typical for these dates.
7 of the next 7 days are forecast to bring 1 mm of rain or more, with about 115 mm in total (typical for this week: 95 mm).
| Day | Rain | Chance of rain |
|---|---|---|
| Mon 15 Jun (today) | 2 mm | 77% |
| Tue 16 Jun | 9 mm | 95% |
| Wed 17 Jun | 16 mm | 100% |
| Thu 18 Jun | 33 mm | 100% |
| Fri 19 Jun | 23 mm | 100% |
| Sat 20 Jun | 24 mm | 97% |
| Sun 21 Jun | 10 mm | 100% |
High, brown water closes tubing and kayaking. Wear a life jacket every time, never go on the river after drinking or alone, and get off the water well before dark. In August 2023 the Nam Song rose to almost 4 metres against a 4.5-metre danger mark, and eight riverside villages were told to be ready to move. There is no public river gauge here — judge the water by its height and colour, and ask local operators before you go on it.
In the wet months heavy rain can flood low spots and trigger landslides on Route 13 — the road and the railway are the only ways in and out. Trains sell out in busy periods, so book ahead, and keep a day's slack in your plans during the monsoon.
In the hot dry months, farmers burn fields across northern Laos and a smoky haze can settle over the valley, cutting visibility and irritating eyes and chests. It is not rain, but it is the other thing the dry season can bring.
Updated 15 June at 21:43. Rain figures are weather-model estimates for the area around central Vang Vieng — useful for comparing periods, not exact bucketfuls; one valley can catch a storm the next one misses. The “typical” figures are 1991–2020 averages from the same modelling family (ERA5), so the comparison is like-for-like. Weather data by Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0).