The date of the winter solstice in Jordan, and facts about the squareness of winter 2022/23

Weather of Arabia - The winter solstice this year falls on Thursday (December 22, 2022) at 12:47 after midnight, and with the day of the winter solstice begins the period of the so-called "winter quadrature", which extends for 40 days.

Below we review facts about the 2022/23 winter square.

Facts about the winter quarters of 2022/23

1. Winter begins astronomically and officially in the Northern Hemisphere on the day of the winter solstice, the day the quadrangular period begins.
2. The day on the winter solstice and the beginning of the square is the shortest day of the year, and therefore the night is the longest night of the year for the regions located in the northern hemisphere.
3. On this day, you will notice that the shadows of people and things at noon will be long, which is the longest in the year, since the sun on this day is at its lowest position in the sky.
4. The sun rises on the day of the winter solstice in the capital, Amman, at exactly 7:32 am and sets at exactly 5:36 pm, meaning that the length of the day will be approximately 10 hours only, while the night will extend for about 14 hours.
5. Winter lasts 89 days until the vernal equinox on March 21, 2023.
6. The winter season is divided into two periods: the square, which lasts for 40 days, and the fifty, which lasts for 50 days.
7. This year's winter square begins on December 22 and continues until the end of January.
8. This period is considered the coldest climatically in Jordan. The average maximum temperature in Amman is 13.3 degrees Celsius, and the minimum temperature is 4.7 degrees Celsius.
9. The rains of the Al-Muraba’in period usually constitute 30% of the total rainy season at the level of the Kingdom.
10. The highest rainfall that occurred in Al-Murabaaniyyah in the climate archive in Amman was in the 1973/1974 season, when 215 mm of rain fell at that time, while the lowest rainfall was 0.6 mm in the 2013/2014 season.
11. The highest rainfall occurred in Al-Murabaniyah in the climatic archives in Jordan was in the 1991/1992 season, when 398.8 mm of rain fell in the Ras Muneef area at that time, achieving 69% of the general seasonal average rainfall.
12. The driest period in Jordan's climatic records was the one that followed the snowstorm Alexa in the 2013/2014 season, as no rain fell during the quadrant in a historical precedent.
13. The highest temperature was recorded in Amman in Al-Murabaaniyyah on 12/23/1963 with 26.3 degrees Celsius.
14. The highest temperature in the Kingdom was recorded in Al-Murabaaniyyah on 3/1/1959 in Aqaba with 31.5 degrees Celsius.
15. The lowest temperature was recorded in Amman in Al-Murabaaniyyah on 1/2/1973, with 7.5 degrees below zero.
16. The lowest temperature in Jordan was recorded in Al-Murabaaniyyah on 7/1/1992 in Al-Shobak, with 14.0 degrees below zero.
17. The mountainous highlands in the Kingdom witnessed snowfall at the end of the two squares, last season 2021/2022, on January 19 and 29, 2022.
18. Quadratic rain totals for the last season 2021/2022 were around their general rates for the quadrabic period in the northern, southern and eastern regions of the Kingdom, while they were higher than their average in the central regions, including the central valleys, with rates ranging from (11%-33%) of the general average of the rainy season, while The performance of the Muraba'inites was poor in the southern Jordan Valley.
19. The quadrennial begins this year, and the temperatures are about to be lower than the usual rates.
20. This year, the rainfall starts to be less than the default total for this time of year.

Data source: Jordan Meteorology

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