Heavy rains to cease today

Manjula Fernando

COLOMBO: The Met Department said yesterday the continuous downpour experienced for the past few days with heavy winds in some parts of the Central Province will ease off by noon today.

Meteorologist in Charge Ajith Weerawardena said they expect a general improvement in the weather by midday.

But occasional showers in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern and Central provinces will continue till September end, until the South Western monsoonal period is over.

"We had been warning the fishermen to be cautious of rough seas right round the island due to active monsoonal winds," Weerawardena said adding "the seas will also be somewhat calmer after today".

A few houses were damaged due to strong winds which had been up to 70-80 km/h sometimes, in the Central Province.

The Met Department official however said this condition will not last through the weekend.

The plus point is that the rain had contributed immensely to ease the high temperature during daytime in the cities.

Colombo temperatures remained between 24.4 C to 28 C yesterday and Nuwara Eliya recorded the lowest temperature with 15.8 C and 14 C. The humidity in Colombo was 75 per cent.

The highest rainfall of 104.5 mm was recorded in Canyon yesterday followed by Galle, Katunayake, Katugastota, Ratmalana, Ratnapura and Galle with 56.7, 31, 24, 22, 18.7 and 15.3.