i had made two blog posts related to this topic titled science: the two summers of colombo and sir lanka: first tropical summer. but this year i attempted to find out when the first summer is using a different model, which seems to be more accurate. based on NOAA's solar position calculator, summer for colombo falls on 07 april 2010 at 05:58 UT (12:28 local time). so i kinda missed it... oh well :(

summer

summer would begin when the sun is on the zenith or directly above you. in temperate locations, summer usually beings on a solstice - summer solstice in the northern hemisphere and winter solstice in the southern hemisphere. but tropical countries experience two summers. i have explained this 'phenomenon' in detail in a previous blog post titled: science: the two summers of colombo.

the calculation

the model presented in the previous blog posts are trigonometric functions and are accurate to certain extent. this year i thought i'd use something more accurate.

the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has a javascript based tool which predicts the position of the sun. please visit the NOAA solar position calculator webpage for more information.

timings would depend on the location. for colombo summer falls on 07 april 2010 at 12:28 local time.