SEASONAL VARIATION IN RAINFALL OVER BADULLA DISTRICT IN PAST 20 YEARS: A CASE STUDY

Abstract

Badulla is a capital city of Uva province and it consists of 15 AGA divisions and 1960 villages. The people on Badulla is mainly depended on agriculture. Vegetable, tea, fruits, and paddy are the main agricultural crops. The district is divided into two regions as Upper and Lower region according to climatic and geographical features. The upper region of the district is well-known for tea plantation and vegetable cultivation while the lower region is eminent for paddy agriculture. Variation of seasonal and annual rainfall was directly affected for their daily life because most of the agricultural crops are dependent on rainwater. The attempt was the study of the variation in monthly, seasonal and annual rainfall over Badulla district in the last 20 years. Annual rainfall trends over the Badulla District showed an increasing trend with 15.8 mm/year. Nearly Four months shows decreasing rainfall trend and the other eight months shows increasing rainfall trend. As annual rainfall, seasonal rainfall also shows increasing trend such as First Inter-Monsoon Season (March – April) 0.15 mm/year, Southwest -monsoon Season (May – September) 14.8 mm/year, Second Inter-Monsoon Season (October – November) 15.1 mm/year and Northeast-Monsoon Season (December – February) 45.0 mm/year.