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Hot news: Why you are at fever level
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Fountain the hottest attraction With the unprecedented heat wave causing sweat and stress, people coming to the Viharamahadevi Park in Colombo are attracted to the fountain area where they cool off, as seen in this picture yesterday afternoon. Pic by M.A. Pushpa Kumara
A change in the wind direction over the Indian Ocean, the lack of cloud cover, rising ocean temperatures and the position of the sun directly above Sri Lanka have led to some of the hottest days in the country’s history.
The dry weather is likely to change with the onset of the monsoons in mid-May, but not before that, Meteorological Department Director Sarath Premalal said yesterday.
He said the Northern and North Central Provinces recorded the highest temperatures on Friday with Vavuniya blazing to 38.9C (102.02 F). The other fever-level areas included Anuradhapura 37C (98.6F), Polonnaruwa 36.9C (98.42F), Kurunegala and Ratnapura 36.2C (97.16F) and Pottuvil and Mattala 35.2C (95.36F).
In Nuwara Eliya where tens of thousands of holidaymakers gathered to escape the heat, the temperature was 25.4C (77.72F) in contrast to the average of 18 C (64.4F) during this month. As Colombo’s temperature reached 33C (91.4F), the humidity was 63 percent with a comparative low wind speed of 16 Km/h. Temperatures in other South Asian cities were also high with Bangalore recording 36C (96.8F) and Kolkata 37C (98.6F).