I'll be in Pasikudah May 1-9 (in Trincomalee before that) and wanted to visit Ella and Nuwara Eliya from there, or between Trincomalee and Pasikudah. However, looking at weather forecasts from different sources shows rains or thunderstorms are likely just about every day.

What does that translate to in practice? Are those rains throughout the day, or for short periods? Are the hiking paths good or do they turn into mud?

If early May is already bad, is late April much better?

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    Don't rely on the symbols the usual weather forecast sites use. They will essentially always show a sun with thunderstorm symbol for all of the tropics... In the tropics you should generally always expect rain, but never for long. – Sebastian Apr 20 '18 at 11:20
  • @Sebastian Are there more specific sites which do better? – Alexey Romanov Apr 20 '18 at 11:24
  • Use www.yr.no for example or www.meteo.gov.lk – Sebastian Apr 20 '18 at 11:27
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    May is when the monsoon starts in Sri Lanka. I'm from India and we get the monsoon in June. And I can assure you that monsoon is a continuous deluge of rainfall. Especially the beginning of the monsoon. – Ricketyship Apr 20 '18 at 18:14
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    And in case you are planning of hiking around (which I believe you are), please be sure to take into consideration leeches as well. The wet, cool tropical weather is a leech heaven. – Ricketyship Apr 20 '18 at 18:24

The simplest way, aside from forecasts, is to look at historical climate models that will indicate the historically most likely results.

For Ella - from weather and climate.com:

It looks like May gets average sun, is part of the rainy season, and the temperature is starting to drop. Precipitation is over 150mm, usually, for the month, over 16-17 rainy days.

For Nuwara Eliya from ClimateData.org:

Also definitely into the wetter seasons, with average high around 18 deg C.

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