How did the recent low pressure system affect the performance of the rainy season, and what were the reasons that prevented snowfall in large areas of the Kingdom?

Arab Weather - The Kingdom, thank God, was affected by the first classified air depression for this winter during the past few days, as the air depression was characterized by many weather phenomena, some of which were severe, which brought back the long-awaited cold and rainy winter weather that was absent throughout the Al-Mraba’aniyah period.

The low pressure contributes to improving the rainy season

The low pressure system brought good amounts of rain that contributed to improving the partial performance of the rainy season, especially in the northern and central regions. These rains are considered a boost to improve the condition of the season in agricultural areas that suffered from a lack of rain earlier in the season. These rains also contributed to increasing the Kingdom's water reserves and improving soil moisture in agricultural areas.

The depression recorded good amounts of rain, as the amounts of rain in the north of the Kingdom ranged from 40-80 mm, and in the central region and Amman from 35-60 mm, while in the southern regions such as Madaba and Karak, the amounts of rain ranged from 25-55 mm.

Rainy season performance still poor

Despite the partial improvement in the rainy season, performance is still weak and needs more continuous rain. According to a comparison between the rainfall that fell and the expected rates over the past 30 years, the percentage of rainfall in some areas did not exceed 70% of the normal rate. Here are the percentages of rainfall that fell until 2/8/2025 according to data from the Meteorological Department:

Irbid: 58%

Jerash: 42%

Ajloun: 55%

Balqa: 59%

Oman: 54%

Blue: 70%

Mafraq: 39%

Eastern Badia: 26%

Madaba: 26%

Karak: 63%

Tafilah: 32%

Meaning: 13%

Aqaba: 3%

The scientific reason for the lack of snowfall in this depression

One of the scientific reasons that prevented widespread snowfall in the Kingdom is that the very cold polar winds did not penetrate deep enough into the upper layers of the atmosphere to allow widespread snowfall. Also, the cold air mass in the upper layers passed quickly on Thursday morning and did not last long over the Kingdom, which led to the snow turning into rain in the peaks of Ajloun and Jerash.

However, snow fell in the southern regions, such as the Sharah Mountains, due to the high altitude of these regions above sea level. The cold was enough to cause snow to fall on these high elevations, despite the fact that the cold did not generally deepen in the Kingdom. Also, the low pressure system did not remain for long before moving towards northern Iraq due to the presence of a strong high pressure system over Libya, which contributed to the process of pushing the low pressure system away from the region.

God knows best.