Cooler climes all over Sri Lanka

Friday, 14 January 2011 00:20 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The country is experiencing record low temperatures currently, the Meteorology Department says.

According to the Meteorology Department the temperature in Colombo has dropped to 18.8 Celsius (65 Fahrenheit). Reportedly, it is the lowest recorded in 61 years.

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

The Meteorology Department says the cold weather is to continue.

Meteorologists say the La Nina weather pattern in the Pacific is causing the disruption in the weather across the globe causing floods in Australia and Sri Lanka.

According to a BBC Meteorologist, La Nina causes strong easterly winds that could prevail across to Sri Lanka and interact with the normal north east monsoon to produce heavy rainfall.

In Batticaloa of the Eastern Province the unusual weather pattern has produced a rainfall of 1606.2 mm just in 42 days during the period from 1st December 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 has received a rainfall of 1030.6 mm during the same period while its annual rainfall was 1580.1 mm, the Meteorology Department reported.