Sri Lanka has been experiencing sporadic whether pattern over last year. People living in the western region of the country expected to see the rain ceased by November, yet experiencing downfalls daily. In contrast the northern part of country experienced extended drought few months back.

Weather and climate have been matters of interest and concern since the dawn of civilization and its forecasting was associated more with religious activities and superstitions than with science. According to NASA, the difference between weather and climate is a measure of time. Weather is what conditions of the atmosphere are over a short period of time, and climate is how the atmosphere "behaves" over relatively long periods of time. In twentieth century the Meteorology emerged as a science studying weather and climate. The recent developments of remote sensing, ultra-high capacity computing & technologies like Internet of Things (IOT) have made weather forecasts more accurate and reliable compared to what was predicted few decades back using just physical laws.

What is the significance of climate & weather for Engineers? This evolution of climate from "art" to science has made technological areas with background in physics to be correlated effectively and considered in engineering designs and operations. Meteorological records, for instance, have long been taken as input in the design of buildings, dams, ports, irrigation systems. The interdisciplinary coordination between meteorology and engineering has become more and more prominent. The jobs of the engineers mainly civil, geotechnical, municipal, environmental, hydrotechnical, mining, materials, and structural have been challenging when they have to consider extreme conditions of nature in our designs and operations. The commercial impact of such considerations are gigantic in some cases. For example, the design of many projects crucially depends on the frequency and intensity of occurrence of maximum winds, long droughts or severe floods. The computation, based on historical records, with less variations of climatic conditions have been challenged often. It requires advanced studies and coordination with meteorologists.

Often, we don’t pay much attention to climate change. Yet there will be increased capacity demands on sewage and water control, availability on source water resources, and degraded water quality. Climate change will have social and economic impact e.g. tourism and recreation. The consequences for human health could be affected due to water-borne diseases, extreme heat and cold events, and deteriorated air quality. In terms of the environment, there are clearly impacts to flora and fauna even to the level of their extinction. We see forest fires due to droughts, plant and animal diseases due to extreme weather creating devastating effects.

The climate change will be a great challenge to us as engineers. Yet our job is to make the unpredictable more predictable and create comfortable and safe living environment to all.

Eng. Indika Walpitage
Indika.walpitage@gmail.com