The continued high activity of the Khamaseen depressions in the region, which portends more weather and temperature fluctuations.

2025-04-02 2025-04-02T10:57:49Z
هشام جمال
هشام جمال
كاتب مُحتوى جوّي

Arab Weather - The Khamaseen depressions are known as a type of barotropic depressions, which are active in the spring and usually originate in the Algerian desert east of the Atlas Mountains, then move east until they reach the Mediterranean region and sometimes continue on their way towards the countries of the Arabian Gulf. This type of depression is formed as a result of the high heating of the land, and because of the difference in specific heat between the land and the water, as the surface of the Mediterranean remains cold, and the land becomes warmer, and thus the air on the land begins to expand, its weight decreases, and the atmospheric pressure decreases, announcing the formation of a Khamaseen depression in the African Sahara.

High activity of the Khamasin depressions this season, in contrast to last season.

In detail, since the beginning of spring, the entire region of North Africa, the Levant, and the northern Arabian Peninsula has witnessed high activity of the Khamaseen (desert) depressions, which have brought with them severe weather fluctuations to the region, most notably extremely warm weather and dust waves that have sometimes reached the level of sandstorms, the most recent of which was in northwest Egypt.

Experts at the Arab Weather Regional Center believe that the main reason for the strong return of the Khamaseen depressions this year is due to changes in the shape of weather systems, represented by the increased growth of hot air masses over the African continent due to increased solar heating. The reasons cannot be limited to this alone, but we can say that the main reason for their return is closely linked to the increased surface heating of the land.

Weather and temperature fluctuations accompany the Khamaseen depressions (warm, dusty, and sometimes unstable weather, with localized thunderstorms and mud showers)

Experts at the Arab Weather Regional Center say that the Khamaseen depressions are usually accompanied at their front by an air mass with temperatures much warmer than usual (warm or hot), and some of the air masses rushing at the front of the Khamaseen depressions are sometimes very hot and cause heat waves in some countries of North Africa, the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula. At the front of the Khamaseen depressions, Khamaseen weather conditions prevail, represented by dry, warm (or hot) and dusty weather.

But the Khamaseen depression quickly moves away, followed by an air mass with cooler temperatures, causing a sharp drop in temperatures in a period of time that may not exceed 24 hours at times. The weather may shift from hot to cold in a short period of time.

Sometimes, the khamsin depressions coincide with the approach of a cold air mass in the upper layers of the atmosphere (upper waves or cold upper troughs), and then the warm, dry air currents in the lower layers of the atmosphere meet with the cold ones in the upper layers of the atmosphere, resulting in a state of atmospheric instability that leads to thunderstorms, often muddy as a result of the rain mixing with the dust resulting from the khamsin depressions.

If a khamsin depression (depending on the shape of the system) moves from the north of the African continent towards the south of the European continent and there is a weather condition represented by the presence of a cold air mass, especially towards the Turkish lands, then the khamsin depressions then attract cold air towards them and they transform from barotropic systems to baroclinic, meaning they are accompanied by cold air fronts.

And God knows best.

This article was written originally in Arabic and is translated using a 3rd party automated service. ArabiaWeather is not responsible for any grammatical errors whatsoever.
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