Al-Shaker explains with maps: 3 main reasons for the weak rainy season and details comparing the current situation with previous years

Arab Weather - The Executive Director of the Arab Weather Center said in a media interview on the Nabd Al-Balad program broadcast on Al-Roya TV that there are three main reasons behind the weakness of the rainy season and the severe weakness in the performance of the rainy season so far.

Al-Shaker explained in the interview via Nabd Al-Balad that the first reason for the weakness of the rainy season is that the shape of the weather systems in the northern hemisphere caused cold air masses to rush into the Kingdom and the eastern Mediterranean with a dry axis, meaning that the cold air masses did not cross large water bodies and were taking a continental path accompanied by an extension of the Siberian high, which resulted in cold and frost waves that occurred in late November and mid-December.

Al-Shaker added that the second reason for the weakness of the rainy season is the occurrence of a major bend in the polar jet stream towards southern Europe, the central Mediterranean and northern Africa, which results in the concentration of air depressions in those regions, accompanied by heavy rains and heavy snowfall, and in return it pushes strong air highs towards the Kingdom and the eastern Mediterranean.

Al-Shaker added that the third reason for the weakness of the rainy season is due to the development of a climate cycle in the Pacific Ocean, specifically off the coast of Peru, called La Nina , which means a cooling of the waters of the tropical region of the Pacific Ocean and a decrease in the water temperature below average, which was reflected in the region by the intensification of high-pressure systems that act as a barrier to the advance of low-pressure systems.

To bring it closer to people, Al-Shaker explained that in a comparison conducted by the Arab Weather Center for the air depressions that affected the Kingdom to date, the Kingdom has not witnessed any classified air depression, even of the lower degrees, while the Kingdom has witnessed classified air depressions in previous years to date. If we take the year 2018/2029, we find that the Kingdom was affected by 4 air depressions, one of which carried advanced degrees, and thus it is clear how severely the performance of the rainy season is weak this year compared to previous years.

Al-Shaker confirmed that the rainfall performance to date is the weakest in decades in the Kingdom. For example, the rainfall performance in the capital to date (12/22/2024) has reached less than 10% compared to what is usual, which represents less than 3% of the entire rainy season. This weakness in the rainfall reality has implications for agriculture and water resources, but Arab Weather is optimistic about improving performance in the coming months, God willing.