Hot weather prevails

by Manjula Fernando

The coastal dwellers will have to endure the hot weather for more weeks but the current scorching heat experienced especially during the night may ease off with the on-set of the North-East Monsoon early next month, the Meteorological Department told the Sunday Observer yesterday.

Met Deputy Director, S.R. Jayasekera said with the prevailing weather conditions they expect the North-East Monsonal rains early as the first week of next month. The N-E monsoon is usually expected in mid March,

Asked about the reasons for the hot weather experienced throughout the country these days he said the lack of strong winds, clear skies and scanty rainfall in February has attributed to this unbearable condition.

The sea breeze which is bringing in humidity to the coastal atmosphere after 10 a.m. creates a sweaty condition and since there is no wind we feel sticky and hot, he said.

This is going to continue in the coastal areas despite rain expected during next week or so. Lack of clouds allows the sun rays to directly drop and without the cloud barrier we feel its intensity, Jayasekera said.

"The mixing of air helps it to ease off the heat," he said.

Although the country experienced average rainfall in January, only the Galle district from the entire country had significant rainfall in February with 98.2mm rainfall against the usual 70.5mm.

In contrast Colombo received only 4.5mm against the average 72.7mm and Kandy 24.4mm against the average 74.2mm.

Even Anuradhapura in the Dry Zone should have received 55.4mm rainfall this month but the Met Department says the district recorded just 13.4mm in February.

The average temperature in Colombo, according to Met Department is 30.6 C for February but this has risen to over 32 C this year.