Weather Overview for 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. Tourists to the city should be aware of the
terrorism risk in Sri Lanka. Although attacks are common to only the north and western
regions of the country, visitors should always be alert of the current terrorism attacks taking
place before entering Sri Lanka’s capital city.

The country observes a fairly typical tropical climate which is affected to an extent by the
seasonal wind reversal of the Asiatic monsoon. The Asiatic monsoon is the great wind system
that has a major affect on India’s climate, and due to its proximity to India, Sri Lanka’s
weather conditions are mildly affected by this. The Asiatic monsoon is dissimilar to any
prevailing wind systems worldwide in that while other wind systems prevail from the same
direction year round, the Asiatic monsoon switches direction at certain points in the year-
switching from southwest to northeast depending on the month. 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.

 
2004 saw Colombo rocked by the devastating Boxing Day tsunami which resulted in 35,322 people
killed across Sri Lanka and 516,150 reported missing. The tsunami hit Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and
Thailand the worst and killed more than 225,000 people across eleven countries with Sri Lanka being
the second worst hit. The tsunami ravaged coastal communities with waves reaching up to 100 feet
in some parts. The train which runs between Colombo and Galle, namely the "Sea Queen” was
struck by the deadly waves, resulting in 1,300 of the 1,600 passengers killed.

Monsoon Seasons

May to August / October to January

The occurrence and prediction of monsoons play a very important role in the economy of Sri
Lanka as the wind and rain affects the farming and crops. Though the island is not as affected
by monsoon winds as neighbouring India, it is still important to have an understanding of
their cycles and visitors should be aware that if they are to get caught up in the monsoon rains
in Colombo, flooding is common and the roads can become highly dangerous. Monsoons are
basically seasonal reversals of wind direction and operate in a similar (yet larger scale) manor
to a coastal sea breeze. To put it simply, the land warms up more quickly than the ocean and
as the hot air rises over the land it is replaced by the cool air from above the water, so as a
result of the temperature difference between land and sea winds are created. Because Sri
Lanka is a large land mass surrounded by a large water mass it is subject to seasonal winds.
May generally sees Colombo experience its highest level of recorded precipitation, though
this is closely followed by October. Some years will see October record higher rainfall than
May. The whole period sees an average temperature of about 28 ºC, which is in fact the
average temperature across the whole year. This ‘summer’ period is only fractionally warmer
than the rest of the year. While the average daytime temperature sits at 28 ºC to 29 ºC, the
average daily minimum only falls to 25 ºC to 26 ºC where as November to February sees
average minimums fall to 22 ºC or 23 ºC. Rainfall during this period is highest in May and
June and begins to die down in the middle months of July and August. May and October
typically average in excess of 350mm precipitation per month, whereas July and August see
between 110 and 130mm precipitation. These weather conditions are significantly different
from the north side of the island, which remains relatively dry from May to September, and
its wet season begins in October. October through until January is the country’s other
monsoon season, which sees fairly similar conditions to May through until August. The
average daily temperature remains at 27 to 28 ºC, and rainfall is at its highest during October
and November- recording 369mm and 310mm respectively.

December to March

This period is generally viewed as the best time to visit Colombo, though it should be kept in
mind that it can get very hot and humid so sight seeing is best done in the morning or
evenings. February sees the lowest rainfall for the year, averaging 60mm of precipitation,
with the months either side January and March recording 80mm and 110mm respectively. 
Average temperature continues to sit at 27 ºC. The highest temperatures ever recorded in
Colombo have occurred in February and again March which the mercury rises to 36 ºC.

Colombo, Sri Lanka

Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu

 
Mar 11 Mar 12 Mar 13 Mar 14 Mar 15 Mar 16 Mar 17

Weather:
Tstorms
Tons of Isolated
Morning
Morning Partly rain. tstorms. Morning
late.
Description: clouds. sunny. Mostly Morning clouds.
clouds. Partly
Warm. Warm. cloudy. clouds. Warm.
Warm. sunny.
Warm. Warm.
Warm.
High
88 °F 89 °F 89 °F 90 °F 91 °F 90 °F 90 °F
temperature:
Low
70 °F 71 °F 71 °F 76 °F 75 °F 74 °F 73 °F
temperature:
Comfort
90 °F 92 °F 94 °F 96 °F 98 °F 95 °F 95 °F
level:
Wind Speed: 7 mph 7 mph 9 mph 10 mph 2 mph 5 mph 4 mph
 Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu
 
Mar 11 Mar 12 Mar 13 Mar 14 Mar 15 Mar 16 Mar 17
Wind
Direction:
Humidity: 48% 48% 68% 72% 76% 80% 84%
10 (Very 7 7 3 3 10 (Very
UV Index: 10 (Very high)
high) (High) (High) (Moderate) (Moderate) high)
Chance of
0% 0% 39% 46% 100% 55% 44%
Rain:
Amount
- - - 0.06" 0.69" 0.10" -
Rain:
6:19 6:18 6:18
Sunrise: 6:19 AM 6:17 AM 6:17 AM 6:17 AM
AM AM AM
6:22 6:22
Sunset: 6:22 PM 6:22 PM 6:22 PM 6:22 PM 6:22 PM
PM PM
 
Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri
 
Mar 18 Mar 19 Mar 20 Mar 21 Mar 22 Mar 23 Mar 24 Mar 25
Weather:
Tstorms Tstorms
More Thunderstorms.
early. early. More sun More sun
sun Mostly Partly
More More than than
Description: than More clouds sunny. cloudy.
clouds clouds clouds. clouds.
clouds. than sun. Warm. Warm.
than than Warm. Warm.
Warm. Warm.
sun. sun.
Warm. Warm.
High
90 °F 91 °F 91 °F 91 °F 91 °F 91 °F 91 °F 91 °F
temperature:
Low
74 °F 74 °F 75 °F 74 °F 74 °F 74 °F 74 °F 74 °F
temperature:
Comfort
99 °F 101 °F 101 °F 100 °F 99 °F 101 °F 103 °F 104 °F
level:
Wind Speed: 7 mph 6 mph 7 mph 3 mph 9 mph 11 mph 12 mph 11 mph
Wind
Direction:
Humidity: 60% 78% 81% 79% 58% 61% 62% 64%
10 (Very 7 7 10 (Very 10 (Very 10 (Very 10 (Very
UV Index: 7 (High)
high) (High) (High) high) high) high) high)
Chance of
44% 100% 100% 66% 0% 38% 38% 38%
Rain:
Amount
- 0.39" 0.40" 0.19" - - - -
Rain:
6:16 6:15 6:15
Sunrise: 6:16 AM 6:14 AM 6:14 AM 6:13 AM 6:13 AM
AM AM AM
 Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu
 
Mar 11 Mar 12 Mar 13 Mar 14 Mar 15 Mar 16 Mar 17
6:21 6:21
Sunset: 6:22 PM 6:21 PM 6:21 PM 6:21 PM 6:21 PM  
PM PM

Climate data for Colombo, Sri Lanka

Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C 30 30.6 31.1 31.1 30.6 30 29.4 29.4 29.4 29.4 29.4 30 30
(°F) (86) (87) (88) (88) (87) (86) (85) (85) (85) (85) (85) (86) (86)
Average low °C 23.3 24.4 25.6 26.1 26.7 26.7 26.7 26.1 26.1 25.6 25 24.4 25.6
(°F) (74) (76) (78) (79) (80) (80) (80) (79) (79) (78) (77) (76) (78)
Precipitation mm 83.8 63.5 114.3 254 335.3 190.5 129.5 96.5 157.5 353.1 307.3 152.4 2,238
(inches) (3.30) (2.50) (4.50) (10.00) (13.20) (7.50) (5.10) (3.80) (6.20) (13.90) (12.10) (6.00) (88.1)