Media Center
Climate Bulletin for Sri Lanka (Week of 15 – 22 July 2022)
Highlights
Rainfall Prediction: Moderate rainfall is predicted for Jaffna, Ratnapura, Galle and Matara districts; The rest of the country is expected to have less rainfall during 15th-19th July.
Monitored Rainfalls: During the last week, the average daily rainfall over Sri Lanka was 0.6 mm and hydro catchment areas have received 5.8 mm on average.
Monitored Wind: From 4th – 10th July, up to 20 m/s of westerly to south-westerly winds were experienced over the island.
Monitored Temperature: Sea surface temperature was above 0.5°C to the north of Sri Lanka. Land surface temperature remained near normal.
Interpretation
Monitoring
Rainfall: During the last two weeks, there had been heavy rainfall over the following area: Nuwara-Eliya
Daily Average Rainfall in the Met stations for previous week of (5th July – 12th July) = 0.6 mm
Rainfall max: 33.7 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 above normal for southern province, driven by the warm SST’s.
Prediction
Rainfall: During the next week (15th- 19th July) moderate rainfall is predicted for Jaffna, Ratnapura, Galle and Matara districts. The rest of the country is expected to have less rainfall.
Temperatures: The temperature remains above normal in the Northern, North-central, Uva and Eastern provinces during 15th – 20th 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-September 2022) before slightly increasing through the Northern Hemisphere fall and early winter 2022.
MJO shall near neutral for the country during 13th- 27th 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 |
