Matale sits in Sri Lanka’s central highlands, where elevation and exposure to both monsoon seasons combine to produce some of the island’s heaviest rainfall totals.
In the hills north of Kandy, the town’s terrain can send heavy rain into local streams quickly during intense storms. Steep hillside terrain, much of it covered in tea plantations, makes this region particularly prone to landslides during intense rain, and radar tracking of storm cells is an important complement to Sri Lanka’s landslide early-warning systems. Learn more: Flash Flood Warning Signs on Radar · Open the full Rain Map