Slight drop in temperatures expected Sunday

AMMAN — A slight drop in temperatures will be witnessed on Sunday, easing off a few days of “very” hot weather caused by a seasonal depression originating from the Indian subcontinent, according to the Jordan Metrological Department (JMD).

Temperatures will gradually start dropping after around four days of a hot spell that pushed them four to five degrees above their annual average of 32°C, said a JMD source.

“However, the weather will remain relatively hot in mountainous areas and hot in the remaining parts of the Kingdom,” he told The Jordan Times over the phone on Saturday.

Late last week, health experts urged people to take precautionary measures during the hot spell, such as drinking plenty of water or fruit juice, avoiding alcohol, tea and coffee as they can lead to further dehydration, ensuring rooms are well-ventilated and taking regular cold showers.

The public was also advised against going out during the hottest part of the day, from 1pm to 3pm.

According to a source from the Civil Defence Department (CDD), this advice contributed to raising public awareness.

“No cases of sunstroke have been reported to the department since the start of the heatwave,” said Lt. Raed Al Abdullah from the CDD.

He noted that there were cases of people who were affected by the weather, but they were minor and their families took them to hospital without having to call the CDD for ambulances.

On the other hand, fires erupted in the Bar area in Tafileh Governorate and in the Ain Basha forests during the weekend.

“No injuries were reported although the fire spread over 200 dunums of land in the Ain Basha forests,” Abdullah said.

He noted that the blaze reoccurred in the forests on Saturday morning, but CDD firefighters contained it again.

“It is still early to tell whether the fires were related to the weather conditions or not,” he noted.

According to Al Rai daily, the load on the national power grid reached 2,500 megawatts on Friday, while generation capacity is around 4,000.

In remarks to Al Rai, Director General of the National Electric Power Company Abdul Fattah Daradkeh expected the electricity load to reach 2,800MW on Saturday and around 3,000MW on Sunday.

The power load surges during heatwaves as people tend to use air conditioners and fans extensively.