Cold snap to continue until mid February

Suraj A Bandara

The cold temperature being experienced in Sri Lanka will continue until mid February, Meteorology Department Director General G B Samarasinghe said.

The temperature in Colombo is comparatively low these days and it had dropped to 18.8 Celsius (65 Fahrenheit) by midnight yesterday. The average temperature in the Colombo district is over 22 Celsius. The lowest temperature of 15.2 Celsius that Colombo district experienced was recorded in 1950, he said.

The rainy situation in Sri Lanka will cease soon while rain in the Northern region could be expected for a few more days, he said.

Meanwhile, the temperature in Nuwara Eliya has dropped to 7.9 Celsius and Batticaloa to 16.9 Celsius, the Meteorology Department reported.

The Meteorology Department further reported that the La Nina pattern in the Pacific is the reason for this situation.

Sri Lanka has come under a cloud cover in the La Nina effect which causes the lowering of sea surface temperature. It has caused the disruption in the weather across the globe causing floods in Australia and Sri Lanka. This abnormal weather condition prevailed since April 2010 is being observed over various parts of the world including Europe, Brazil and Iran.

According to Meteorology Department, the weather pattern in the island has seen a drastic transformation recently.

The near 300 mm rainfall being experienced in the Batticaloa district was the worst since 1912.The unusual weather pattern has produced a rainfall of 1606.2 mm in just 42 days from December 1, 2010 to 12th January 2011, almost equal to its total annual rainfall. The annual total rainfall of the district was 1650.9 mm.

Similarly Trincomalee received a rainfall of 1030.6 mm during the same period while its annual rainfall was 1580.1 mm, the Meteorology Department reported.