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The island of Sri Lanka has an equatorial climate, with rather mild temperature ranges. Due to the influx of monsoons, the island has two distinct climatic seasons: a dry season and a wet season.
A CLIMATE INFLUENCED BY MONSOONS
Monsoons mainly affect the rain regime. The southwest monsoon brings rain on the central highlands and along the southern and western coasts of the island, such rains occur between May and September. This monsoon brings phenomena of strong intensity and makes the south-western coast and the mountainous slopes of the central-southern highlands the rainiest areas of the island. In these areas, the rainfall exceeds 2,500 mm per year.
The northeast monsoon affects the climate and rainfall patterns of the northern and eastern coasts of Sri Lanka. This monsoon causes the rainy season along these areas of the island between October and January. The north-east monsoon is less intense than the south-west monsoon, which means that the northern and eastern areas of the island are more arid, in fact they receive between 600 mm and 1,200 mm of rain per year.
The rains, however, are not only regulated by the monsoons, they, in the areas close to the equator such as Sri Lanka, are also influenced by the so-called zenithal rains, that is, the rains that occur in correspondence with the passages of the sun at the zenith. This means that the rainfall is intense even in April-May and October-November. The rains usually occur between the afternoon and the night.
The combined effect of the monsoon and the zenithal rains is clearly visible in the rain chart of the capital Colombo, which is located along the southwest coast. Here there are two periods of intense rain, corresponding to the months between April and May and between September and November, here the dry period is reduced to the months of January and February.
STABLE TEMPERATURES IN EVERY PERIOD OF THE YEAR
The temperatures instead present a more stable picture, the average maximum temperatures vary between 30 ° C and 33 ° C along the western coast and between 28 ° C and 35 ° C along the eastern coast. While the average minimum temperatures vary between 22 ° C and 25 ° C along the western coast and between 24 ° C and 26 ° C along the eastern coast.
In the highlands of the interior, temperatures are lower due to the altitude. In Kandy (500 meters high) the average maximum temperatures vary between 28 ° C and 31 ° C, while the average minimum temperatures vary between 18 ° C and 21 ° C. At higher altitudes such as in Nuwara Eliya (1,990 meters), the average maximum temperatures vary between 18 ° C in July and 23 ° in April, while the average minimum temperatures vary between 9 ° C in January and 13 ° C in June .
The sea water temperature is constantly between 27 ° C and 30 ° C and makes swimming in the sea excellent all year round.
WHEN TO GO TO SRI LANKA
The island can be visited at any time of the year, just choose the least rainy part of Sri Lanka. To visit the western and southern coast and the inland highlands, the best months are the driest and least rainy months between December and March. While for a stay along the east coast the best months are between March and September.
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SRI LANKA CLIMATE: CLIMATIC TABLES
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| COLOMBO (2 meters) | ||||
| Month | Average low (°C) | Average high (°C) | Precip. (mm) | Precip. days |
| January | 22,3 | 31,0 | 58,2 | 5 |
| February | 22,7 | 31,2 | 72,7 | 5 |
| March | 23,7 | 31,7 | 128,0 | 9 |
| April | 24,6 | 31,8 | 245,6 | 14 |
| May | 25,5 | 31,1 | 392,4 | 16 |
| June | 25,5 | 30,4 | 184,9 | 16 |
| July | 25,1 | 30,0 | 121,9 | 12 |
| August | 25,1 | 30,0 | 119,5 | 11 |
| September | 24,8 | 30,2 | 245,4 | 15 |
| October | 24,0 | 30,0 | 365,4 | 17 |
| November | 23,2 | 30,2 | 414,4 | 15 |
| December | 22,8 | 30,4 | 175,3 | 10 |
| YEAR | 24,1 | 30,7 | 2523,7 | 145 |
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| KANDY (500 meters) | ||||
| Month | Average low (°C) | Average high (°C) | Precip. (mm) | Precip. days |
| January | 18 | 27 | 79 | 6 |
| February | 18 | 28 | 74 | 5 |
| March | 18 | 30 | 71 | 8 |
| April | 20 | 30 | 188 | 14 |
| May | 20 | 29 | 144 | 11 |
| June | 20 | 28 | 132 | 15 |
| July | 20 | 27 | 128 | 14 |
| August | 19 | 28 | 113 | 13 |
| September | 19 | 28 | 155 | 13 |
| October | 19 | 28 | 264 | 17 |
| November | 19 | 27 | 296 | 16 |
| December | 18 | 27 | 196 | 14 |
| YEAR | 19,0 | 28,1 | 1840 | 146 |
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| TRINCOMALEE (8 meters) | ||||
| Month | Average low (°C) | Average high (°C) | Precip. (mm) | Precip. days |
| January | 24,3 | 27,9 | 132 | 7 |
| February | 24,5 | 29,2 | 100 | 4 |
| March | 25,1 | 30,9 | 54 | 4 |
| April | 25,8 | 33,0 | 50 | 5 |
| May | 26,4 | 34,5 | 52 | 4 |
| June | 26,4 | 34,7 | 26 | 2 |
| July | 25,8 | 34,4 | 70 | 4 |
| August | 25,5 | 34,2 | 89 | 5 |
| September | 25,2 | 33,9 | 104 | 7 |
| October | 24,6 | 31,8 | 217 | 12 |
| November | 24,2 | 29,3 | 334 | 16 |
| December | 24,2 | 28,1 | 341 | 16 |
| YEAR | 25,2 | 31,8 | 1569 | 86 |
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| KALUTARA | ||||
| Month | Sea Water Temperature °C | |||
| January | 28 | |||
| February | 28 | |||
| March | 29 | |||
| April | 30 | |||
| May | 29 | |||
| June | 28 | |||
| July | 27 | |||
| August | 27 | |||
| September | 28 | |||
| October | 28 | |||
| November | 28 | |||
| December | 28 | |||
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