susiesan

I am in the early stages of planning g a vacation trip to Sri Lanka for early 2016. I will stay there 12 to 14 days and use a driver to get my husband and I around. To avold the heavy rains, which would be the best month-Jan, Feb, or March? I'd also like to avoid the hottest months.

So what is the ideal month for a SL vacation?

crellston

We visited at the end of Feb / early March 2011 thinking it was the best time but arrived in some of the worst floods for years. We were there for a month and had pretty good weather during the last half of the trip. The first half of the trip we were around Anurahadpura and teh flood were pretty bad.

Speaking to the locals, many said that the weather patterns had changed considerably in recent years and it was becoming increasingly difficult to predict when the monsoons would arrive.

I think the climate also varies considerably from East to west - so there is likely to be good weather somewhere most of the time.

Mohammed

Jan Feb March are very good.

Rains and floods in Feb was a freak event.

This is the tropics so some scattered rain is to be expected aways.

annhig

we were there in September/October 2 years ago and had no rain whatever.

but these snap shots are not really to be relied on - every year is different, so the only thing you can do is to look at the weather charts for the last 5-10 years and hope for the best.

julies

I too think that things are unpredictable due to global changes that are happening to climate. Last year in both India and Nepal we ran into monsoon-like rains in March--way before they were supposed to happen. Local said these did not fit the normal pattern at all and attributed this to a changing climate.

annhig

anyway, an umbrella is always useful in SL - if it rains to keep the rain off and if the sun shines, as a parasol - all the locals use them.

susiesan

Of course, I always travel with an umbrella, no matterrors the weather patterns. I just don't like walking around in the rain while touring. You miso a lot of outside views and scenery.

My itinerary will probably be a typical 2 week highlight tour. I think that would put me in the center and west most of the time, yes?

Mohammed

Yes you must work on the center and west.

Beaches are good

on the South and West coast from Dec - April

and the East coast from April - Sep.

annhig

I'm just watching the cricket from Kandy on the TV - Kandy is in the centre of SL and it is spanking hot now in December. it's particularly fun to watch as we went to a match at this ground 2 years ago or so and i can still remember the noise of the crowd which was overwhelming.

as well as cricket [which i accept you may not be interested in] there is plenty to do in Kandy. The highlight for us were the Botanical gardens which are lovely. Someone [was it you, Mohammed?] recommended looking at the orchid house particularly and the display there is indeed very beautiful. we also liked all the exotic flowers and the memorial trees, some of which were planted by royalty over 100 years ago.

smith2005

As everyone mentioned, its hard to predict the weather pattern in Sri lanka now.
However, the good news is, if its possible, depending on where it rains(If any), you could change your travel plans to south (Galle, Unawatuna beaches), north central (Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa) or to the mountains (Kandy, Nuwaraeleiya) and their are plenty of places to visit.

Hope this helps.

Mohammed

Yes anhig I do love that orchid house in Peradeniya botanical gardens (Kandy). Oh and the cricket, England seem to be struggling, lost by 90 runs eh! Last match of the ODI series is tomorrow in Colombo but the weather forecast is not good!

annhig

Last match of the ODI series is tomorrow in Colombo but the weather forecast is not good!>>

Yes, thank you for mentioning the result of the cricket match, Mohammed. I think that SL has a very good chance of winning the World Cup, even without Malinga. I saw him bowl in the T20 tournament in Kandy and live his action is even odder than on TV. we have absolutely no chance with Cook in charge. I don't think we've much of a chance anyway, but we badly need a new approach which he is far too demoralised to give.

the other matches they had an extra day reserved in case it rained - does that apply to this match? I'm almost hoping it doesn't.

Mohammed

HI don't understand on what basis they decided on the extra days for some of the ODI's. Today has no extra day! And as I write this there is a thunderstorm brewing outside my office and my drive home takes me past the Premadasa so guess I will have some traffic jams to deal with too!

Mohammed

Sorry to the OP for hijacking this thread with cricket talk etc however we do see to be returning to the topic of weather.

The thunderstorms we are seeing now are probably the tail end of the North East Monsoon, hopefully the rains will abate and the dry season will start by next week or so.

annhig

so far so good, with today's weather at least, Mohammed.

Our bowlers have not done a terribly good job, either at getting wickets [though we did get the big 2 early on] or keeping the runs down.

i wouldn't put my shirt on them completing a 300+ run chase either.

returning to the OP, we may be saved by the weather, but personally, I will never apologise for discussing cricket!

Mohammed

Moeen Ali bowled first ball on 2 for 1 is not going to help chasing 300+ for sure!

Keeping fingers crossed on the weather, the sjy is rumbling outside...

annhig

we could have done with a good downpour!

But well played Sri Lanka, especially Dilshan, Kumar and Jayawardene, [what great payers they have been] and good luck in the world cup.

susiesan

I saw on the news that Sri Lanka is having heavy rains causing flooding. I didn't catch which part of the country this is happening in. Is this unusual for December?

Mohammed

We had torrential rains here on Christmas day and boxing day causing severe flooding in same places. The rain has now abated, bright hot sun today. Weather patterns seem to be delayed about 2 weeks this year. Usually it should rain heavily in November and abate by about 10th Dec.

Seems like a major global climate change, El Nino phenomenon??

annhig

Mohammed - I think that it is very difficult to draw conclusions about how/if our climate is being affected by global warming on a year by year basis. Probably all we can predict is that the weather is going to become increasingly unpredictable.