Showers will fall at times in the Western and Sabaragamuwa provinces and in the Galle, Matara, Kandy and Nuwara Eliya districts on Saturday, the Department of Meteorology said, with several spells expected in the North Western Province.
Showers or thundershowers may occur at a few places in the Uva Province and in the Ampara, Batticaloa and Hambantota districts after 2.00 p.m., Ada Derana reported. Mainly dry weather will prevail elsewhere.
Strong winds of about 40-50 kmph are expected at times over the western slopes of the central hills, across the Northern, North Central and North Western provinces, and in the Trincomalee, Monaragala, Hambantota and Matale districts. The department asked the public to take precautions against damage from localised strong winds and lightning.
Rain where the drought is not
The forecast puts most of the expected rainfall in the wet zone, which is not where the current dry spell is being felt. Ampara, Batticaloa and Trincomalee are the districts whose reservoir storage has fallen furthest, and of those only Ampara and Batticaloa appear in the forecast at all — as a chance of afternoon thundershowers “at a few places”, the weakest category in the bulletin.
Trincomalee and Monaragala instead appear on the strong wind list, which raises evaporation rather than relieving it. Government figures put more than 84,500 people across seven districts as affected by the dry weather.
The sun reaches the Vanni
The sun will be directly overhead the Pallawarayankaddu, Akkarayankulam, Ariviyal Nagar, Puthukkudiyiruppu and Ananthapuram areas at about 12:11 p.m. on Saturday, the department said. Hiru News carried the same list, rendering the first location as Pallavarayankaddu.
The sun remains over Sri Lankan latitudes until 7 September as it continues its apparent southward motion. It began the passage on Friday over the Jaffna peninsula, above Kokkuvil, Nallur, Kodikamam and Nagarkovil. Saturday’s locations sit in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts, immediately south of Friday’s, confirming the north-to-south progression forecast at the start of the passage.
Both outlets gave the same 12:11 p.m. time on both days. The overhead sun adds to peak daytime heating in districts already under a warm weather advisory.
