Rainfall will be generally light across Thailand for the first half of this week but storms should be expected to resume from Wednesday into the weekend, according to the Meteorological Department.
In its weekly forecast for July 1-7 issued on Sunday, the department said most parts of the country will experience a general decrease in rainfall during July 1-3, but wet conditions should be expected during July 4-7.
The western part of the North, the central region, the East and the provinces along the Andaman coast in the South will be wetter with isolated heavy rain during this period.
According to the department, the first half of July will also see below average rainfall, while the second half will experience wetter conditions, especially in the eastern region and the Andaman coast.
Meanwhile, the Office of the National Water Resources - the state's think-tank on water management policy - predicted it would be able to control floods this year.
Somkiat Prajamwong, director of the Office, said that the concern is actually shifting to management of a likely drought in the dry season next year, with rainfall likely to be less than average for the rest of 2018.
"We don't worry about severe floods for this year as it seems certain rainfall is lighter than average," he said.
"What we are concerned about is how to retain more water in the dams for next year's consumption. At this rate of rainfall, there will not be much water in the four main dams," he told the media.
The Department of Royal Irrigation (DRI) is prepared to discharges 48 million cubic metres of water per day from the main four dams to feed ricefields along the Chao Phraya River basin.
Farmers need water to start harvesting next month.
According to the plan, 13 million cubic metres of water stored in the four main dams will be available for next year's harvest season.
These four dams are Bhumibol Dam in Tak province, Sirikit Dam in Uttaradit province, Kwae Noi Bamrung Dam in Phitsanulok and the Pasak Chonlasit Dam in Lop Buri. In all, they currenly hold around 12.97 billion cubic metres of water.
