Fair weather expected next week

AMMAN — The Kingdom is expected to witness fair to hot weather over the upcoming week, with mercury levels in the capital and hilly areas reaching 37°C during the daytime, the Jordan Meteorological Department (JMD) said Thursday. 

Temperatures are expected to reach a maximum of 40°C in the Jordan Valley, four to six degrees above the annual average, JMD Director General Mohammad Samawi told The Jordan Times over phone.

The impact of the relatively hot air mass originating from the Indian subcontinent, which started affecting the country late last week, started to decline on Thursday, with temperatures in Amman and hilly areas reaching 35°C, while registered mercury levels in suburbs as well as northern and southern neighbourhoods were between 27°C and 32°C, said Samawi.

On Friday, temperatures in Amman will be between 21°C and 34°C, while in Aqaba they will range from 29°C to 41°C, according to a JMD statement.

The department warned of low visibility in desert areas due to dust-raising wind.

The recent heatwave, which affected Jordan and the region, brought light rain to Tafileh, Qatraneh, Karak and Zarqa’s Duleil area as a result of unstable weather conditions, whereas southeastern and eastern areas in Jordan witnessed dust storms and low visibility that caused flight delays and diversions at Queen Alia International Airport.

During the heatwave, temperatures soared to 42°C in Amman, 47.5°C in Deir Alla and 45.5°C in Aqaba, with humid weather conditions.

The load on the national power grid reached “an unprecedented” 3,300 megawatts on Tuesday, as many air conditioners and fans were on in Jordan to mitigate the effect of the heatwave.