Climate Arugam Bay SPB 2020-2024

Climate and trends: average temperature, flight conditions, precipitation, wind speed and direction.

Calculated from historical METAR data of Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (VCRI) between 2020 and 2024.

VFR conditions (%)

Month	Average	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020
January	88.7	90	93	83	90	92
February	89.5	89	97	90	91	91
March	88.0	90	91	91	82	92
April	88.4		95	82	89	92
May	87.2		93	89	87	86
June	93.3		99	95	93	93
July	94.7		100	94	94	93
August	93.0		97	96	93	96
September	86.6		82	98	89	89
October	85.5		76	96	89	93
November	83.1		83	93	89	86
December	87.6		83	91	90	90
Average	88.9	89.5	90.7	91.5	89.5	91.2

1st best VFR conditions of Sri Lanka

VFR conditions during daylight period

Percentage of observations where the VFR minimums for ceiling and visibility are met: visibility of 8 km or more and a ceiling of 3,000 ft or more. Only observations between sunrise and sunset are taken into account.

Marginal VFR conditions (%)

Month	Average	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020
January	99.3	99	99	100	100	100
February	99.7	100	99	100	100	100
March	99.7	100	100	100	100	100
April	99.3		100	99	100	100
May	99.8		100	100	100	100
June	99.9		100	100	100	100
July	100.0		100	100	100	100
August	99.3		100	100	99	100
September	99.6		100	100	100	100
October	99.4		99	100	100	100
November	99.0		100	99	100	100
December	99.4		100	100	99	100
Average	99.5	99.5	99.6	99.7	99.7	99.8

Marginal VFR conditions or better during daylight period

Percentage of observations where the MVFR minimums for ceiling and visibility are met: visibility of 5 km or more and a ceiling of 1,000 ft or more. Only observations between sunrise and sunset are taken into account.

Maximum temperatures (°C)

Month	Average	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020
January	30.9	31	31	31	30	32
February	32.0	33	31	32	32	33
March	32.6	34	32	33	32	34
April	32.7		33	32	33	33
May	32.3		33	32	33	33
June	33.2		34	33	34	34
July	33.6		34	33	33	33
August	33.2		35	33	33	33
September	32.1		31	34	33	32
October	31.6		30	32	32	34
November	30.8		31	31	31	31
December	30.4		30	30	31	31
Average	32.2	32.7	31.9	32.1	32.1	32.6

1st highest temperature of Sri Lanka

Average highest temperature per day

The maximum temperature is typically observed some hours after noon.

Minimum temperatures (°C)

Month	Average	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020
January	22.0	23	21	22	23	22
February	22.5	24	21	23	23	23
March	22.9	23	24	23	23	23
April	24.0		24	24	24	24
May	24.9		25	25	25	25
June	25.3		26	25	25	25
July	25.0		26	25	25	25
August	24.9		25	24	25	25
September	23.8		22	24	25	24
October	23.5		22	23	24	24
November	23.1		22	23	24	24
December	22.7		24	22	23	22
Average	23.6	22.9	23.4	23.6	23.8	23.7

1st lowest temperature of Sri Lanka

Average lowest temperature per day

The minimum temperature is typically observed just before sunrise.

Precipitation (%)

Month	Average	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020
January	3.3	5	2	0	11	2
February	1.4	1	1	1	1	2
March	1.2	0	1	1	2	1
April	0.9		1	1	0	2
May	2.4		1	4	1	4
June	1.0		1	1	0	1
July	0.8		1	1	1	2
August	2.2		0	3	0	2
September	4.2		8	1	1	7
October	5.5		9	3	4	1
November	4.5		1	1	5	3
December	4.7		8	2	4	3
Average	2.6	1.7	2.7	1.6	2.6	2.3

Precipitation during daylight period

Percentage of observations with observed rain, drizzle, snow or hail. Only observations between sunrise and sunset are taken into account.

Wind speed (knots)

Month	Average	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020
January	6.9	7	6	7	5	9
February	8.1	9	7	7	7	10
March	6.2	6	6	6	6	7
April	5.2		5	5	6	6
May	9.3		8	11	8	9
June	12.3		13	11	12	12
July	11.8		12	10	12	10
August	12.1		12	11	12	11
September	10.4		9	11	12	11
October	7.6		5	9	8	12
November	5.1		4	5	7	5
December	6.1		7	5	6	6
Average	8.4	7.3	7.8	8.2	8.4	8.9

1st highest wind speed of Sri Lanka

Average wind speed

Excluding wind gusts. Only observations between sunrise and sunset are taken into account.

Prevailing wind direction

Month	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020
January	050°	044°	047°	061°	048°
February	051°	051°	047°	051°	054°
March	069°	066°	116°	053°	085°
April		130°	216°	226°	095°
May		239°	249°	244°	238°
June		249°	253°	244°	250°
July		256°	264°	249°	243°
August		241°	257°	246°	238°
September		237°	251°	240°	244°
October		222°	257°	245°	249°
November		120°	247°	252°	115°
December		048°	345°	042°	060°

Prevailing wind direction

Average wind direction, weighed by wind speed. Only observations between sunrise and sunset are taken into account.