The Sinharaja Reserve has a wet equatorial climate and, in common with the south west highland towns such as Kitulgala which it fringes, is one of the wettest parts of Sri Lanka with more than 400cms a year. Sri Lanka’s last surviving rainforest and a valuable canoeing and rafting centre are two positive results of that climate. The driest months are January to March and July to September but even then, there is every chance you will see some rain with every month seeing precipitation on the majority of days. Humidity is at least 90% in every month outside January to March. To put things into perspective, this area sees roughly as much rain as the Jaffna Peninsula sees throughout the year. Take an umbrella.

Sri Lanka is affected by two monsoons which generally means that there is good weather somewhere. The main south-west (“yala”) monsoon brings rain to the west and south-west coasts and hills largely between May and July. The north-east (“maha”) monsoon hits the east coast predominantly from November to January. There is also an inter-monsoonal period of unsettled weather in October.

Best month to visit Sinharaja and Kitulgala: January

 Average
high °C
Average
low °C
Average
rain / m mm
Average
rain days / m
Average
sun hours / month
Jan3021245147
Feb2920255158
Mar3020310198
Apr3120455207
May2919300216
June2919275206
July2820265216
Aug2819240216
Sept2820240196
Oct3319530206
Nov3218580187
Dec3018435177
Year3019345197