Media Center
Climate Bulletin for Sri Lanka (Week of 1 – 8 July 2022)
Highlights
Rainfall Prediction: Heavy rainfall (>100mm) is predicted for Kalutara, Ratnapura & Galle districts; fairly heavy showers (>55 mm) will occur in North-Western & Central provinces during 29 June-5 July.
Monitored Rainfalls: During the last week, the average daily rainfall over Sri Lanka was 1.0mm and hydro catchment areas have received 3.5mm on average.
Monitored Wind: From 20th – 26th June, up to 15 m/s of westerly to south-westerly winds were experienced over the island.
Monitored Temperature: Sea surface temperature was above average of 0.5°C around Sri Lanka. Land surface temperature remained near normal.
Interpretation
Monitoring
Rainfall: During the last two weeks, there had been fairly heavy rainfall over the following area: Galle
Daily average rainfall in the Met stations for previous week of (20th – 27th June) = 1.0 mm
Rainfall max: 29.6 mm & Rainfall min: 0.0 mm.
Wind: Westerly to south-westerly prevailed in the sea area surrounding the island last week.
Temperatures: The temperature anomalies were near-normal for the island, driven by the warm SST’s.
Prediction
Rainfall: During the next week (29th June – 5th July) heavy rainfall (>100 mm) is predicted for the Kalutara, Ratnapura and Galle districts; fairly heavy showers (>55 mm) will occur in North-Western & Central provinces and the rest of the country is expected to have less rainfall.
Temperatures: The temperature remains above normal in the Northern, North-eastern, Uva and Eastern provinces during 1st – 6th July.
Teleconnections:
La Niña – Though La Niña is favored to continue through the end of the year, the odds for La Niña decrease into the Northern Hemisphere late summer (July-September2022) before slightly increasing through the Northern Hemisphere fall and early winter 2022.
MJO shall slightly enhance the rainfall during 29th June – 8th July; and near neutral during 9th- 13th July.
Seasonal Precipitation: The precipitation forecast for the July-August-September season shows a higher tendency for above- normal precipitation for the Jaffna district, and for the rest of the districts there is a tendency to the neutral tercile.
Terminology for Rainfall Ranges
| Rainfall (During 24 hours of period) | |
| Light Showers | Less than 12.5 mm |
| Light to Moderate | Between 12.5 mm and 25 mm |
| Moderate | Between 25 mm and 50 mm |
| Fairly Heavy | Between 50 mm and 100 mm |
| Heavy | Between 100 mm and 150 mm |
| Very Heavy | More than 150 mm |
