Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — The severity of the strong cold wave that has been sweeping most regions of Saudi Arabia would start subsiding from Monday, Jan. 24, according to climate experts.

Abdul Aziz Al-Hussaini, a prominent weather expert and environmental activist, said that there would be a gradual rise in temperature as the biting cold continued at night and early morning of Sunday in most regions of the Kingdom.

Meanwhile, Abdullah Al-Misnid, former professor of climate at Al-Qassim University and founder chairman of the Committee for Nomenclature of Distinctive Climatic Conditions in Saudi Arabia (Tasmiyat), expected that the temperature would start rising gradually every day during this week, and then decrease again in the coming weekend.

The decrease in temperature will be less severe and intense than the current cold wave that is lashing most northern and central regions, including the capital city of Riyadh.

“The temperature today remains lower than its annual average for this day of the year,” Al-Misnid said in a statement on his Twitter account. “The sky is expected to be clear today, and the sun is shining in most areas. It is likely that the northern, central and the eastern regions would continue witnessing very cold weather for some time,” he said.

Meanwhile, the National Center of Meteorology (NCM) said in its weather report for Sunday that the lower temperatures are expected to continue in the eastern, central and southern parts of the Kingdom.

The cold wave will be accompanied by surface winds and low visibility, and its impact is likely to be extended to parts of southwestern and western parts of the Kingdom, it said in the report.

The sky is partly cloudy and it could be interspersed with thunderstorms accompanied by active winds on the highlands of Asir, Al-Baha and Makkah, the NCM said while noting that fog will form in early morning over the Najran, Asir and Al-Baha regions.

Unprecedented sharp drop in temperatures has been experienced in several Saudi cities since Friday. Mercury dropped to an average subzero three degrees Celsius in some cities while snow covered several northern cities.

The city of Turaif in the Northern Border Region recorded on Wednesday minus 6 degrees Celsius, which is the lowest temperature the Kingdom has ever witnessed over the past 30 years. The winter was the harshest during the last weekend, with Riyadh recorded freezing temperatures reaching between minus one and three degrees Celsius.