Met puts Saturday's heavy falls above 75 mm, lowering Friday's 100 mm figure

The Department of Meteorology expects fairly heavy falls above 75 mm at some places in the Sabaragamuwa province and the Kandy and Nuwara Eliya districts on Saturday, according to the forecast for August 8 issued at 5.30 a.m. that morning.

Showers or thundershowers will occur at times in the Sabaragamuwa and Western provinces and in the Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Galle and Matara districts, the department said. Cloudy skies will prevail over those areas. Several spells of showers may occur in the North Western province.

Strong winds of about 40 to 50 kmph can be expected at times over the North Central, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Central and North Western provinces.

The department asked the public to take adequate precautions against damage from temporary localised strong winds and lightning during thundershowers.

A lower figure than Friday afternoon’s issue

The Met Department had put Saturday’s heavy falls at around 100 mm in the bulletin it released at 2.00 p.m. on Friday, covering the same three areas. The morning issue states the threshold as “above 75 mm” instead — a lower headline figure, though the department’s wording sets a floor rather than a ceiling.

The two bulletins also treat the North Western province differently. Friday afternoon’s version grouped it with the Western and Sabaragamuwa provinces for showers or thundershowers; Saturday morning’s lists it separately as likely to see several spells of showers. The provinces named for strong winds are unchanged.

The forecast issued on Friday morning had put heavy falls at about 75 mm and had included the Galle and Matara districts in that warning alongside Sabaragamuwa, Kandy and Nuwara Eliya. Those two southern districts remain in the shower area but are outside the heavy-fall warning in both of Saturday’s figures.

Context

The districts singled out are the same ones that have absorbed the heaviest rainfall this month. Sabaragamuwa, Kandy and Nuwara Eliya have been at the centre of the current spell of adverse weather, which has produced landslide warnings and troop deployments in the hill country, road closures and fatalities.

The Met Department issues its daily forecast each morning at about 5.30 a.m. and again at about 2.00 p.m., and any separate advisory or warning released later supersedes it.

Sources: Department of Meteorology, Ada Derana, Hiru News, Daily Mirror.