Analysis of the Climate at Peradenia, from 1851 to 1858 inclusive.
| Months. | Temperature. | Rainfall. | Remarks. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Max. | Min. | Mean. | Average of Years | In. | Average of Years | ||
| January | 85.0 | 52.5 | 74.06 | 6 | 4.04 | 6 | Fine, sunny, heavy dew at night, hot days, and cold nights and mornings. |
| February | 87.75 | 55.0 | 75.76 | 7 | 1.625 | 6 | Fine, sunny, dewy nights, foggy mornings, days hot, nights and mornings cold. |
| March | 89.5 | 59.5 | 77.42 | 7 | 3.669 | 6 | Generally a very hot and oppressive month. |
| April | 89.5 | 67.5 | 77.91 | 7 | 7.759 | 6 | Showery, sultry, and oppressive weather. |
| May | 88.0 | 66.0 | 77.7 | 8 | 8.022 | 6 | Cloudy, windy, rainy; monsoon generally changes. |
| June | 86.0 | 71.0 | 76.69 | 8 | 7.155 | 6 | A very wet and stormy month. |
| July | 86.0 | 67.0 | 75.64 | 8 | 5.72 | 6 | Ditto ditto |
| August | 85.5 | 67.0 | 75.81 | 8 | 8.55 | 6 | Showery, but sometimes more moderate, variable |
| September | 85.5 | 67.0 | 76.13 | 8 | 6.318 | 6 | Pretty dry weather, compared with the next two months. |
| October | 85.73 | 68.2 | 75.1 | 8 | 15.46 | 6 | Wind variable, much rain. |
| November | 84.0 | 62.0 | 74.79 | 8 | 14.732 | 6 | Wind variable, storms from all points of compass, wet; monsoon generally changes. |
| December | 82.75 | 57.0 | 74.05 | 7 | 7.72 | 5 | Sometimes wet, but generally more moderate; towards end of year like January weather. |
| Mean yearly Temperature,75.92º | Mean yearly Rainfall, 91.75 in. nearly. | Nov. 29, 1858 J.A. CALEY. | |||||
In all the mountain valleys, the soil being warmer than the air, vapour abounds in the early morning for the most part of the year. It greatly adds to the chilliness of travelling before dawn; but, generally speaking, it is not wetting, as it is charged with the same electricity as the surface of the earth and the human body. When seen from the heights, it is a singular object, as it lies compact and white as snow in the hollows beneath, but it is soon put in motion by the morning currents, and wafted in the direction of the coast, where it is dissipated by the sunbeams.
Snow is unknown in Ceylon; Hail occasionally falls in the Kandyan hills at the change of the monsoon,[1] but more frequently during that from the north-east. As observed at Kornegalle, the clouds, after collecting as usual for a few evenings, and gradually becoming more dense, advanced in a wedge-like form, with a well-defined outline. The first fall of rain was preceded by a downward blast of cold air, accompanied by hailstones which outstripped the rain in their descent. Rain and hail then poured down together, and, eventually, the latter only spread its deluge far and wide, In 1852, the hail which thus fell at Kornegalle was of such a size that half-a-dozen lumps filled a tumbler, In shape, they were oval and compressed, but the mass appeared to have formed an hexagonal pyramid, the base of which was two inches in diameter, and about half-an-inch thick, gradually thinning towards the edge. They were tolerably solid internally, each containing about the size of a pea of clear ice at the centre, but the sides and angles were spongy and flocculent, as if the particles had been driven together by the force of the wind, and had coalesced at the instant of contact. A phenomenon so striking as the fall of ice, at the moment of the most intense atmospherical heat, naturally attracts the wonder of the natives, who hasten to collect the pieces, and preserve them, when dissolved, in bottles, from a belief in their medicinal properties. Mr. Morris, who has repeatedly observed hailstones in the Seven Korles, is under the impression that their occurrence always happens at the first outburst of the monsoon, and that they fall at the moment, which is marked by the first flash of lightning.
1: It is stated in the Physical Atlas of KEITH JOHNSTON, that hail in India has not been noticed south of Madras. But in Ceylon it has fallen very recently at Korngalle, at Badulla, at Kaduganawa; and I have heard of a hail storm at Jaffna. On 1 the 24th of Sept. 1857, during a thunder-storm, hail fell near Matelle in such quantity that in places it formed drifts upwards of a foot in depth.
According to Professor Stevelly, of Belfast, the rationale of their appearance on such occasions seems to be that, on the sudden formation and descent of the first drops, the air expanding and rushing into the void spaces, robs the succeeding drops of their caloric so effectually as to send them to the earth frozen into ice-balls.
These descriptions, it will be observed, apply exclusively to the southern regions on the east and west of Ceylon; and, in many particulars, they are inapplicable to the northern portions of the island. At Trincomalie, the climate bears a general resemblance to that of the Indian peninsula south of Madras: showers are frequent, but light, and the rain throughout the year does not exceed forty inches. With moist winds and plentiful dew, this sustains a vigorous vegetation near the coast; but in the interior it would be insufficient for the culture of grain, were not the water husbanded in tanks; and, for this reason, the bulk of the population are settled along the banks of the great rivers.
The temperature of this part of Ceylon follows the course of the sun, and ranges from a minimum of 70° in December and January, to a maximum of 94° in May and June; but the heat is rendered tolerable at all seasons by the steadiness of the land and sea breezes.[1]
1: The following facts regarding the climate of Trincomalie have been, arranged from elaborate returns furnished by Mr. Higgs, the master-attendant of the port, and published under the authority of the meteorological department of the Board of Trade:—