Puttalam
Town in North Western, Sri Lanka
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Puttalam (Sinhala: පුත්තලම, romanized: Puttalama; Tamil: புத்தளம், romanized: Puttaḷam) is the largest town in Puttalam District, North Western Province, Sri Lanka. Puttalam is the administrative capital of the Puttalam District and governed by a municipal council.
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Puttalam පුත්තලම புத்தளம் | |
|---|---|
Town | |
| |
  Puttalam පුත්තලම புத்தளம் | |
| Coordinates: 08°02′03″N 79°50′07″E | |
| Country | Sri Lanka |
| Province | North Western |
| District | Puttalam District |
| Divisional Secretariat | Puttalam Division |
| Government | |
| • Type | Puttalam Municipal Council |
| • Mayor | Vacant since May 2021[1] |
| Area | |
• Town | 25.6 km2 (9.9 sq mi) |
| • Land | 119.0 km2 (45.9 sq mi) |
| • Water | 327 km2 (126 sq mi) |
| Population (2012)[2] | |
• Town | 45,511 (Urban Council) |
| • Density | 400/km2 (1,000/sq mi) |
| • Urban density | 1,778/km2 (4,600/sq mi) |
| • Metro | 82,443 (Puttalam Division) |
| • Metro density | 471.1/km2 (1,220/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+05:30 (Sri Lanka Standard Time Zone) |
Climate
Under the Köppen climate classification, Pattalam has a tropical savanna climate (As) with a short dry season from June to September and a second dry season from January to March. The wet season is mainly from October to December. Temperatures remain steady throughout the year with little variations in between.
| Climate data for Puttalam (1991–2020) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 34.4 (93.9) |
36.4 (97.5) |
38.5 (101.3) |
38.5 (101.3) |
36.2 (97.2) |
35.4 (95.7) |
34.9 (94.8) |
35.5 (95.9) |
35.7 (96.3) |
35.5 (95.9) |
34.5 (94.1) |
33.1 (91.6) |
38.5 (101.3) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 30.7 (87.3) |
32.3 (90.1) |
33.5 (92.3) |
33.2 (91.8) |
32.5 (90.5) |
31.7 (89.1) |
31.5 (88.7) |
31.7 (89.1) |
31.8 (89.2) |
31.3 (88.3) |
30.7 (87.3) |
30.0 (86.0) |
31.8 (89.2) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 26.2 (79.2) |
27.0 (80.6) |
28.6 (83.5) |
28.9 (84.0) |
29.5 (85.1) |
29.2 (84.6) |
28.9 (84.0) |
28.9 (84.0) |
28.9 (84.0) |
28.1 (82.6) |
27.1 (80.8) |
26.4 (79.5) |
28.1 (82.6) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 21.4 (70.5) |
21.7 (71.1) |
23.4 (74.1) |
24.7 (76.5) |
26.5 (79.7) |
26.7 (80.1) |
26.3 (79.3) |
26.2 (79.2) |
25.9 (78.6) |
24.7 (76.5) |
23.5 (74.3) |
22.6 (72.7) |
24.5 (76.1) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 15.6 (60.1) |
16.2 (61.2) |
17.0 (62.6) |
20.5 (68.9) |
19.7 (67.5) |
22.7 (72.9) |
22.0 (71.6) |
22.5 (72.5) |
21.4 (70.5) |
21.3 (70.3) |
17.4 (63.3) |
15.7 (60.3) |
15.6 (60.1) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 50.5 (1.99) |
42.1 (1.66) |
56.9 (2.24) |
154.4 (6.08) |
101.8 (4.01) |
32.1 (1.26) |
23.5 (0.93) |
23.3 (0.92) |
69.2 (2.72) |
230.6 (9.08) |
254.6 (10.02) |
143.7 (5.66) |
1,182.6 (46.56) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) | 5.6 | 4.2 | 4.5 | 9.5 | 6.5 | 4.2 | 2.1 | 3.4 | 5.8 | 12.8 | 15.3 | 10.8 | 84.7 |
| Source: NOAA[3] | |||||||||||||
Points of interest
Energy
Seguwantivu Wind Power (Private) Limited, an Indian firm, invests US$37 million and maintains 25 wind turbines which produce 20 MWs of electricity in Puttalam Seguwantivu region.[5]
Religion
Puttalam is a multi-cultural and multi-religious town. Islam is the major religion in Puttalam town while Buddhists and Christians are significant minorities; there is also a small Hindu population.[6]
Notable people
- Sahan Adeesha - cricketer born in Puttalam
- Abdul Baiz Kamardeen - politician, former Chairman of Puttalam Urban Council
- Tariq Hisny - composer, born in Puttalam
- H. S. Ismail - 5th Speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka
- M. H. M. Naina Marikar - first elected to the Parliament of Sri Lanka as member for Puttalam
- M. H. M. Navavi - politician, former Member of Parliament
- Ali Sabri Raheem - politician, Member of Parliament
- Hector Appuhamy - politician, Member of Parliament
