Weather

Since Sri Lanka is a tropical country, you can expect the rain anytime of the year in different parts of the country. However, the two major rainy seasons are North-East monsoon (October to January) predominantly affecting the east coast and South-West monsoon (May to July) which predominantly affects the west & south coast of Sri Lanka.

Being an island, the climate of Sri Lanka changes dramatically from one part of the country to another. For example at Nuwara Eliya, in the hills of Central Sri Lanka, has a temperature around 5-20°C throughout the year, whereas Hambanthota, located in the dry zone, has a temperature consistently around 30-35°C.

NEGOMBO
Negombo features a tropical rainforest climate under the Köppen climate classification. The city receives rainfall mainly from the Southwestern monsoons from May to August and October to January. During the remaining months there is a little precipitation due to Convective rains. The average annual precipitation is about 2400 millimetres. The average temperature varies 24 to 30 degrees Celsius, and there are high humidity levels from February to April.

DAMBULLA
Dambulla's climate is classified as tropical. There is more rainfall in the winter than in the summer in Dambulla.

The average annual temperature is 26.8 °C. In a year, the average rainfall is 1557 mm. Most rainfall (rainy season) is seen in January, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December.

On average, the warmest month is April. On average, the coolest month is August.

KANDY
Kandy’s climate is tropical rainforest. With Kandy located in the centre of the island and in a high elevation, the city has a relatively wetter and cooler temperatures than that of the tropical climate of the rest of the country, especially the coastal regions. The city has its dry season from January through to April. From May through to July and October to December the region experiences its monsoon season, during this time the weather is rough and unstable. The island being in the northern hemisphere gives Kandy its coldest month in January and hottest in July. From March through the middle of May is the inter-monsoonal period when there is light rain and strong humidity, generally 70%-79%.

NUWARA ELIYA
Due to its highland location, Nuwara Eliya has a subtropical highland climate (Köppen climate classification Cfb), having no pronounced dry season, a monsoon-like cloudy season and with a mean annual temperature of 16 °C (61 °F).

In the winter months, there can be frost at night, but it warms up rapidly during the day because of the high sun angle.

GALLE
Galle features a tropical rainforest climate. The city has no true dry season, though it is noticeably drier in the months of January and February. As is commonplace with many cities with this type of climate, temperatures show little variation throughout the course of the year, with average temperatures hovering at around 26 degrees Celsius throughout.

COLOMBO
Colombo is located in the south west of the Sri Lanka, which is a large island located directly south of India in the Indian Ocean. The island as a whole has a varied topography, with lowland regions around its coast and large mountainous regions in the interior with the highest peaks on the island reaching 8000ft.

Colombo, the country's capital, is located in the south west so is therefore affected by the Yala monsoon which hits the areas from May through until August. However, on the whole Colombo's climate is fairly temperate all throughout the year and throughout December to March the city remains fairly dry. The climate overall in Sri Lanka is fairly similar that seen in southern India, in that it experiences two monsoons and a dry season. Basically, year round Colombo records and average temperature of 28 ºC to 28 ºC, with annual average highs of 31 ºC and average lows if 22 to 26 ºC across the year. November to March sees average lows of 22 ºC to 23 ºC, whereas April to October sees lows of 25 ºC to 26 ºC. So as you can see there is very little range in temperature both across the day and across the year. There is high humidity year round, and rainfall fluctuates depending on whether you are in the wet or dry season.

Weather information obtained/edited for use on our website from http://www.holiday-weather.com/; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuwara_Eliya