Rainfall in Sri Lanka originates from three primary sources; convection, frontal depression and monsoon, the latter arising from a combination of the sun\’s heat and the Earth\’s rotation creating a band of easterly winds at 30 degrees north and south latitude.  Although these winds blow all year, they change direction with the seasons and this shift is what causes monsoons.  In Colombo we would expect it to be pretty dry from the end of the monsoon season in September, but instead we have still had plenty of rain, often of epic proportions.  With one exception, the past week has been better, with the rain both lighter and shorter in duration.

The exception was Wednesday when at 3pm – fully three hours before sunset – we were suddenly aware that outside had gone completely dark like a cloudy winter night.  Pitch black.  It was then that we realised that on the 20th floor of an office building, we were actually inside the cloud!  We could just about make out vehicle headlight beams in the street below.  When the cloud lifted ten minutes of so later, the street was a river and the adjacent cricket pitch a swimming pool. Goodness knows how much water fell in that short period of time.

Last Sunday, we had lovely hues across the inland part of the city just before the sun set – and a rainbow that I couldn\’t fully photograph as I couldn\’t see any further to the left.  Look to the horizon though and you will see the rain rolling in!

Steve