The Department of Meteorology has issued an “Amber” advisory for strong winds and rough seas in the sea areas extending from Hambantota to Pottuvil.
Those waters will be rough at times, with strong gusty winds of up to 50 to 60 kmph, Ada Derana reported.
A narrower warning than last week
The advisory covers one sector only. The Amber advisory issued on 28 August named three: Kankesanthurai to Puttalam via Mannar, Mullaitivu to Trincomalee, and Hambantota to Pottuvil. The northern and eastern sectors have now been dropped, leaving the south-eastern stretch as the only area under warning, at the same 50-60 kmph wind speeds.
Ada Derana’s report did not carry a wave-height figure or a validity period, both of which the department has included in some earlier bulletins. Naval and fishing communities operating in the affected waters were not given a specific advisory beyond the Amber classification.
How it fits Tuesday’s land forecast
The advisory is separate from the department’s daily land forecast for Tuesday, which expects showers in the Western and Sabaragamuwa provinces and in Galle, Matara, Kandy and Nuwara Eliya, with showers or thundershowers after 2.00 p.m. in the Uva province and in the Ampara, Batticaloa and Hambantota districts.
Hambantota appears in both bulletins — in the land forecast for afternoon thundershowers and 30-40 kmph winds, and in the marine advisory for the stronger 50-60 kmph offshore gusts. The higher offshore figure is normal; wind speeds over open water are typically greater than those recorded inland.
No other verified newsroom had carried the marine advisory at the time of writing.
Update, September 3: the same advisory, reissued unchanged
The Met Department issued the Amber advisory again on Thursday morning, Ada Derana reported. Every element of it is identical to Tuesday’s: the same single sector from Hambantota to Pottuvil, seas “rough at times”, and the same 50-60 kmph strong gusty winds. The department again asked naval and fishing communities to be vigilant.
The reissue carries no wave-height figure and no validity period, the same two omissions noted above. Because the department does not publish an expiry time with these bulletins, it is not possible to say from the reports whether Tuesday’s advisory lapsed and a fresh one was issued, or whether a continuously active warning is simply being restated — the two are indistinguishable in the published text.
What the repetition does establish is duration. The south-eastern sector has now been under an Amber warning at 50-60 kmph for at least three days, since the three-sector advisory of 28 August narrowed to this one stretch. No outlet has reported any incident at sea, any restriction on fishing craft leaving harbour, or any advice from the Department of Fisheries during that period.
