Sri Lanka’s Monsoon Seasons Guide

It’s that time of the year in Sri Lanka. What time, you ask? The time when heavy rains inconvenience plans, and become Public Enemy Number One. Also known as Sri Lanka’s monsoon seasons.

If you plan to travel to Sri Lanka, knowing the best time to visit is important. In turn, it means being aware of the rainy weather.

All joking aside, the monsoons CAN be a menace in some parts of the island. I’m privileged enough to live in an area that doesn’t experience floods or landslides. Instead, the worst complaints I have about Sri Lanka’s monsoon seasons are:

• The lack of sunshine

• Heavy cloud cover makes it difficult to dry laundry (the majority of the island rely upon the sun and wind to do this)

• Excessive rain derailing plans

It is not so for many areas of the island. A lack of sunshine is the least of someone else’s worries when Sri Lanka’s monsoon seasons come around. Excessive rain can and does lead to property damage and/or (worse) loss of lives. But, this article is not meant to be a discussion of grim subjects. Now that I’ve brought the mood down, let’s bull-in-a-China-shop this article.

In other words, be my frivolous self and focus on how Sri Lanka’s monsoon seasons affect travellers. Read on to find out the best time to visit, when you can escape or avoid the rainy weather.

Sri Lanka's monsoon seasons in a nutshell

Notice the plural whenever I talk about ‘Sri Lanka’s monsoon seasons’? That’s because crazy enough, there’s MORE than one season of inclement weather. There are two. Weeeell, if you count the intermonsoons, there would be four. But the two inter-monsoonal seasons get overshadowed by Sri Lanka’s main monsoon seasons - the South-Western and North-Eastern monsoon. So while these seasons bring rainy weather, they are not as heavy as the two major monsoon seasons. The South-Western monsoon brings rain between May to September. Meanwhile, the North-Eastern monsoon season falls between December to February. But, the torrential rains you expect from a monsoon don’t happen during these months. No, heavy rainfall happens between these two monsoons. From March to April and October to November. These are the two intermonsoons.

So why expect rain during the monsoons rather than the intermonsoons?

Don’t get me wrong, it does rain intermittently during Sri Lanka’s two main monsoon seasons. But nothing like the bruised skies that pour what feels like entire oceans down upon the ground during the intermonsoons.

So where does the confusion come from? Why do we expect heavy rain when it’s mostly sunny? Being a little part-time, I researched. And came across an article where Dr Lareef Zubair, Itinerant Researcher – Climate, Environment, Tropics, Engineering, Post-Colonial Technology, Higher Education explained the reason for the misunderstanding. In Sri Lanka, the word monsoon merely refers to “a season, as defined by the prevailing wind direction”. We derive the word from the Arabic mawsim. Dr Zubair traces the confusion to British colonials. According to him, they appropriated the word monsoon with heavy rains. So when CAN you expect heavy, torrential rains if not during Sri Lanka’s monsoon seasons? Easy. Between October to November. Also known as the second intermonsoon.

Travelling during the monsoon seasons

The thing is, Sri Lanka’s monsoonal seasons (the main two) don’t bring constant downpours. And even when it does rain, it doesn’t rain throughout the entire island. During the first monsoon of the year, from May to September, it rains occasionally in the south and the western parts of the island. From December to February, northern and eastern provinces receive more rainfall.

But the months you have to AVOID for sure are October to November. The second intermonsoon is when the heavens OPEN UP! And it doesn’t discriminate on geography. It feels like the rain has a mind of its own and will rain where it will when it will. Still, except for those two months, the rest of the island is yours to explore. Yes, even during Sri Lanka’s monsoon seasons. Because here’s the thing. True, it might rain in some parts of the island. But, the majority of the country experiences temperate weather during those ten months.

Where and when to travel during Sri Lanka’s monsoon seasons.

This is easy to figure out, even when the weather is not as predictable as it was just a few years ago. Sri Lanka’s two main monsoon seasons often bring rain to certain areas of the island. During the first monsoon, for instance, if it will rain at all, it will inconvenience the south and the west. So if you are in cities like Colombo, Galle or Bentota, you might see some rainfall. And even then, there are plenty of things to explore wherever you happen to be. During the second of Sri Lanka’s monsoon seasons (not counting the intermonsoons), it might rain in the north and east more. Not that cities and towns like Jaffna and Trincomalee often receive a lot of rain through the year.

Letting the monsoons decide your destination

Not that you need to. Sri Lanka’s monsoon seasons (again, not the intermonsoons) should not derail your plans. It doesn’t rain as terribly as the word monsoon suggests. The months you need to avoid are October and November. The second intermonsoon is when the rainfall takes on all the stereotypical qualities of a monsoon season the most. But if you’d still like to avoid risks, then this might help you.

South western monsoon (May-September)

Consider travelling to:

• Nuwara Eliya
• Polonnaruwa
• Arugam Bay
• Trincomalee
• Mahiyanganaya

North eastern monsoon (December-February)

Consider travelling to:

• Yapahuwa
• Kalpitiya
• Sigiriya
• Galle
• Negombo

Interested in travelling around Sri Lanka's monsoon seasons?

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