The Department of Meteorology has issued an amber warm weather advisory for parts of Sri Lanka, warning that the heat index could reach the ‘Caution’ level during daytime on Monday, September 7.
The advisory was issued by the Natural Hazards Early Warning Centre at 4.00 p.m. on Sunday and applies to residents of the North Central and Eastern provinces and the Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Vavuniya, Kurunegala, Monaragala and Hambantota districts, Ada Derana reported.
The heat index is the temperature actually felt by the human body, derived from a combination of air temperature and relative humidity. The department said it is expected to rise to cautionary levels at some locations in those areas.
What the department advises
The public has been urged to take precautions during the hottest parts of the day. People working outdoors were told to stay hydrated and take frequent breaks in shaded areas, and to limit strenuous activity where possible.
The department also asked the public to check on elderly and sick people, and reminded motorists never to leave children unattended inside vehicles. It advised seeking shade, drinking enough water and wearing lightweight, white or light-coloured clothing.
A second advisory in a day
The heat warning is separate from the ‘Amber’ severe lightning advisory the department issued earlier on Sunday, which covered the Uva and Eastern provinces and the Polonnaruwa and Mullaitivu districts alongside a forecast of rainfall above 75 millimetres in Uva and the East after 2.00 p.m.
The two advisories overlap only in the Eastern Province and Mullaitivu. The heat advisory reaches further north and west, into Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Vavuniya and Kurunegala, and south to Hambantota.
Several of the districts named are already carrying the heaviest drought burden, with more than 115,500 people affected by dry weather across seven districts and irrigation releases curtailed. Forecasters expect the rainfall deficit to persist through the rest of the year under prevailing El Niño conditions.
The department has also noted that the sun is passing directly over Sri Lankan latitudes between 28 August and 7 September on its apparent southward motion.
Update, September 7: renewed for Tuesday, same districts
The Department issued the advisory again at 4.00 p.m. on Monday, warning that the heat index is expected to reach the ‘Caution’ level in some areas during the daytime on Tuesday, September 8, Ada Derana reported. This time the department gave a validity period: in effect until 4.00 p.m. on Tuesday.
The area list is unchanged from Sunday’s advisory — the North Central and Eastern provinces plus Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Vavuniya, Kurunegala, Monaragala and Hambantota — as is the precautionary advice. Monday’s notice was not described as ‘Amber’.
A second consecutive day under the same warning, across the same nine areas, matters more than either notice on its own: heat stress accumulates, and most of the districts named are the ones already carrying the drought burden.
Update, September 9: a third notice, and the same nine areas again
The Department issued the caution again on Wednesday, September 9, Hiru News reported — the first time a newsroom other than Ada Derana has carried one of these notices.
The area list is identical for the third time: the North Central and Eastern provinces, plus the Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mullaittivu, Vavuniya, Kurunegala, Moneragala and Hambantota districts. Hiru describes the heat index as expected to reach a level “requiring caution” in certain areas during the daytime, and repeats the advice to take precautions. It gives no validity period, no numeric threshold and no expected temperatures — the same gaps present in both Ada Derana notices.
The persistence is the story. The same nine areas have now been under a caution-level heat advisory across September 7, 8 and 9, and they substantially overlap the districts carrying the drought burden — which reached 154,167 people across eight districts on Wednesday, with Matale added to the list.
Note that the department’s stated window for the sun’s apparent passage over Sri Lankan latitudes — 28 August to 7 September — has now closed, while the advisories have not.
Not reported
Neither Ada Derana nor Hiru has given a numeric heat index threshold for the ‘Caution’ level, or expected temperatures, in any of the three notices. None reports how long the department expects the pattern to continue.
