Country to experience Southwest Monsoon soon: Met Department

By Yohan Perera   

Sri Lanka is about to experience the Southwest Monsoon while it is expected to get fully established during the next few days, the Department of Meteorology said yesterday.   

“The country had begun moving into Southwest Monsoon and it will be fully established within the next few days,” Department of Meteorology Climatologist Malith Fernando told Daily Mirror.   

“However, we only expect moderate rains during the Southwest Monsoon. Rains could be expected any time of the day,” he said.   Making a long term forecast,  Fernando said Sri Lanka could experience mainly dry weather by mid-June due to El Niño phenomenon.  The El Niño is a cycle of warming and cooling events that happens along the equator in the Pacific Ocean. El Niño is the warming part of the cycle. It happens when there is a decrease in cool waters rising to the sea surface near South America. This leads to an increase in sea surface temperatures across the Pacific, which then warms the atmosphere above it. They can cause severe drought in Australia, Indonesia, parts of southern Asia, Central America and northern South America. When the last El Niño occurred seven years ago, it contributed to drought and food insecurity that affected tens of millions of people across southern and eastern Africa.   

The Department of Meteorology forecasted showers exceeding 50mm in times in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Central, North Western provinces and in Galle and Matara Districts. Showers or thundershowers were expected in few places in Uva and Eastern provinces and Polonnaruwa District.