By Tim Newton
[...]
Along the Andaman coast, the closure of Marine National Parks and the ban on boating activity was a precautionary measure with forecasters not sure exactly what the storm would do as it approached land. ‘Pabuk’ could have veered inland at any time. Different forecasters were publishing slightly different tracks for the storm. No one knew for sure.
On this, The Thaiger was using a US weather model which was mostly correct – a lot more accurate than some of the local weather models. Tropical storms often have a mind of their own and different models can come up with different predictions.
This was even more apparent on Saturday morning when local media were reporting the ‘eye’ of Pabuk sitting somewhere over Krabi! In fact the storm had scooted north of Krabi and was past the Phang Nga coast and heading west out to sea by Saturday morning. It was also a very weakened storm by the time it arrived on the Andaman Coast.
[...]
With Andaman tourist locations like Krabi, Phi Phi, Phuket and Phang Nga dodging much of the angry weather, local tour operators are now crying foul about the precautionary banning of marine activities saying it’s cost them lost revenue with cancellations, and angry travellers stranded on islands waiting for the ban to be lifted.
[...]