What is `square`? What distinguishes it from the winter days?

Arab weather - square (or winter forty) is a well-known term in the Levant and many Arab countries, it refers to the beginning of the period in which the cold becomes intense in the winter, and it is an important and critical period, especially for farmers and agricultural lands, due to the high chances of frost and freezing that cause spoilage. Agricultural crops, and in the following we will talk about the most important characteristic of the square period from the rest of the winter days.

When does the "square" begin and when does it end?

The square or “the fortieth of winter” begins in the Levant and most Arab countries on December 21/22 of each year, and lasts for 40 days until the end of January , in what is known as “Al-Kawain” for short.

As for the start date of the square in the Arabian Peninsula , it comes after the season of marking, and the time of its entry varies from one account to another, but it is in the first ten days of December for most of the people of the desert in the Arabian Peninsula and the two deserts of the Levant and Iraq.

The relationship of the winter solstice to the square

The day of the winter solstice is considered the beginning of the “winter square” in the Levant and many Arab countries, and it is the beginning of winter in the northern hemisphere according to astronomical calculations. The regions north of the equator (the northern hemisphere) experience the shortest day and longest night The year, then after this day the length of the night decreases and the length of the day gradually increases, as the sun begins to rise to the north in its apparent movement in the sky, after it reached its southernmost point on the day of the winter solstice.

The most important characteristic of the winter "square"

1. In the memories and experiences of ancestors and their minds, squares were associated with the arrival of cold and heaviest rains throughout the year, which is consistent with modern science, as the angle at which the Earth rotates increases the number and activity of atmospheric depressions affecting the Levant region and the Arabian Peninsula during this period.
2. The path of the depressions becomes suitable for the region to be affected more by it, as the square period witnesses the lowest rates of heat throughout the year, and the highest rates of rain.
3. The square was called the forty days of winter because it lasts forty days.
4. The Quadrangular period is considered the coldest climatic period, and it is the most suitable period for the arrival of the polar air masses of origin, due to the stability of winter systems.
5. In terms of rain, this period constitutes 30% - 40% of the total rainy season.