Better weather expected this year

by Nilma DOLE

Weather conditions are expected to be consistent this year with scattered showers but nothing more serious, said Deputy Director Meteorological Department, Sunil Kariyawasam.

“We are hoping that the weather patterns will be normal this year except for the risk of floods, but overall there would be less activity even with climate change,” he said.

Last May, Cyclone Laila displaced nearly 280,000 people, triggering floods, delaying flights and submerging many areas of Colombo. “There is always volatile activity in the Bay of Bengal, but this year we have not noticed any changes or stormy weather through cyclone formation. So far, it looks like the normal North and East monsoon rains will be prevalent,” said Kariyawasam.

He said that rain is expected in the North Central, Northern, Central, Uva and Southern Provinces and the likelihood of floods is at 50 percent. “Colombo experienced heavy rain last November, but this year so far, we have only seen a slight cloudiness developing with isolated showers,” he said.