And I really should get clarification from someone who actually knows when monsoon season begins and ends. I do recall Fahim mentioning that there are two monsoon seasons here, a big one and a little one, but when? I have no idea.
What I can tell you, though, is that we haven’t had any large rainfalls or thunder and lightning storms for a couple of weeks now. As far as I know, we haven’t had rain at all for a couple of weeks, unless it’s raining at night and I don’t hear it.
And for something like 5 or so days in a row, it’s been hot. Forecast for today is 32 Celsius. It’s probably been very close to that for, like I said, 5 or so days in a row.
So what I’ve figured out is that it seems that the big monsoon, or southwest monsoon, is from May to September, where Sri Lanka gets the majority of its rainfall, and the little monsoon, or winter monsoon, or northeast monsoon season, runs from November to the end of December or January. (More Encyclopedia Brittanica.) Fahim says it’s more like November to March, though. I don’t know whether I should go with him or the Encyclopedia. Fahim says of course I should go with him – what does an encyclopedia know? But I think I’ll go with Fahim anyway just because I like going with Fahim. I wouldn’t want to cause any kind of rift in our relationship, now would I? 😉
Of course, if you look at it his way, it’s always Monsoon Season in Sri Lanka. He said that, too, with an evil laugh. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!
He’s got evil laughs down pat. Perfected. An art form.
The other thing to mention, though, is that there is the northeast monsoon versus the southwest monsoon. Which means different parts of the island get affected by the different monsoons.
Think about it. There is some small amount of logic there.
Onwards and up wards, ho!
Sri Lanka’s tropical location ensures perennially high temperatures, with monthly averages between 72° F (22° C) and 92° F (33° C) in the lowlands. In the Central Highlands, higher altitudes account for lower temperatures, with monthly averages between 44° F (7° C) and 71° F (21.6° C). (That’s taken directly from the Encyclopedia Brittanica 2004.)
I’m in the lowlands in the southwestern portion of the country. Look on a map for Colombo, Sri Lanka, and I’m close enough to that to say that basically, that’s where I am. Where I am is also considered the Wet Zone, as opposed to the Dry Zone, which is everywhere else other than the southwestern quadrant of the island.
The wet zone averages something like 98 inches along hte coast to more than 150 inches in the highlands, whereas the dry zone annually averages 30 to 70 inches, depending on the area. Droughts persisting for more than three months are common.
See, this is what happens when ya look stuff up. Ya get information. Wow. And Yowsa! even.
