Heavy downpours, unusually accompanied by hail, struck several areas of Bangkok on Thursday afternoon, prompting residents in Ratchadapisek, Chatuchak, Lat Phrao and Chokchai 4 to share images and videos of the phenomenon across social media.
Somkuan Tonjan, director of the Aeronautical Meteorology Division at the Thai Meteorological Department (TMD), explained that hail is a rare natural occurrence during the rainy season.
While hail usually forms during summer storms, Thursday's event was triggered by huge cumulonimbus clouds, driven by strong moisture-laden winds from the southwest monsoon combined with high temperatures.
Within these deep vertical cloud formations, powerful updrafts carry water droplets into sub-zero atmospheric layers where they freeze. As these ice pellets cycle through the cloud, they collect additional layers of moisture until they become too heavy for the updrafts to support, eventually falling to the ground as hail.
Somkuan noted that, while late-season hail is uncommon, Thursday's storm was significantly less severe than typical summer hail events.
The meteorologist also warned the public against consuming the fallen hail, citing potential contamination from airborne dust, chemicals and atmospheric pollutants trapped inside the ice during cloud formation.
According to the TMD, Bangkok can expect light-to-moderate afternoon showers to continue through October 4, as moist winds persist over the capital.
Rainfall in some areas may exceed 35mm, though precipitation is expected to pass quickly rather than linger as in previous weeks.
