Highlights

Rainfall Prediction: Fairly heavy rainfall (up to 50 – 100 mm) is expected for the Southern, Western, Central, Uva, Sabaragamuwa & Eastern provinces from 8th – 12th April.

Monitored Rainfalls: During the last week, average daily rainfall over Sri Lanka was 6.1mm and hydro catchment areas have received up to 11.5mm on average.

Monitored  Wind: From 28th March- 3rd April, up to 2m/s South-easterlies were experienced. Wind direction is changing from Northwest to South west during this period.

Monitored  Temperature: Sea surface temperature was above 0.5°C to the north of Sri Lanka and temperature was average for the country last week.

Interpretation

Monitoring

Rainfall: During the last two weeks, there had been heavy rainfall over the following area: Matara
Daily average rainfall in the Meteorology stations for previous week of (29th March – 5th April) = 6.1 mm (Maximum Rainfall: 39.7 mm & Minimum Rainfall: 0mm).

The Hydro Catchment Areas recorded 11.5 mm of average rainfall for the last week (Maximum Rainfall: 51.9 mm & Minimum Rainfall: 0.4 mm).

Wind: South-easterly (or variations in direction) winds prevailed in the sea area surrounding the island last week.

Temperatures: The temperature anomalies were near-neutral for the country, driven by the warm SST’s.

Prediction

Rainfall: During the week of (8th – 12th April) fairly heavy rainfall is predicted for Western, Sabaragamuwa and Southern provinces.

Temperature : The temperature remains slightly above normal in the Northern and Eastern provinces during 8th – 16th April.

Teleconnections:

La Nina – The SST forecast indicates that La Niña is favored to continue into the northern hemisphere summer (June-August 2022).

MJO shall neutral during 6th – 15thApril; and slightly enhance the rainfall during 16th- 20th April.

Seasonal Precipitation:

The precipitation forecast for the April-May-June season shows above-normal precipitation for the island, while some parts of the southern province remain neutral.

Terminology for Rainfall Ranges