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High humidity leads to thunderstorms in south-west
View(s):In recent weeks much of the country experienced high humidity leading to uncomfortable afternoons and nights, a senior official of the Met Department reported. Duty Meteorologist Nadee Rupasinghe said that high humidity experienced from last week, fuelled the potential for scattered thunderstorms in the south-western parts of the island for the next two weeks.
Thunderstorms will tend to occur in the late afternoon and early evening today in the Western, Southern and Sabaragamuwa Provinces which tend to heat up quicker earlier in the day, The sea area extending from Puttalam to Kankesanturai to Mannar and Matara to Batticaloa will be fairly rough at times as the winds can strengthen up to 50 kmph, the Met Dept. said.
According to the weather forecast showers or thundershowers will occur in the sea areas off the coast extending from Puttalam to Galle via Colombo and deep sea areas off the coast from Galle to Batticaloa. The public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimise damage caused by lightning activity.
National Mental Health Director Dr. Jayan Mendis told the Sunday Times that the elderly and ill aren’t the only people that heat kills. It also kills healthy young people, usually because they do not recognise the dangers of exercising in hot weather, especially hot, humid weather.
When heat and humidity combine to slow evaporation of sweat from the body, outdoor exercise becomes dangerous even for those in good shape. “Key rules for coping with heat are to drink plenty of water to avoid dehydration and to slow down and cool off when feeling fatigued, having a headache, a high pulse rate or shallow breathing”.
“Exercising in hot weather can lead to muscle cramps, especially in the legs, because of brief imbalances in body salts. Cramps become less frequent as a person becomes used to the heat”.