Cold, rainy weather expected to continue

AMMAN — Cold and cloudy weather with scattered showers is forecast for the rest of the week, in a continuation of the depression that started affecting the Kingdom on Tuesday, the Jordan Meteorological Department (JMD) said on Wednesday.

The depression, which reached its peak on Wednesday, brought heavy showers to several parts of the Kingdom, accompanied by thunder and hail in some parts.

Temperatures in Amman on Thursday are forecast to range between 9°C and 10°C during day, dropping to between 2°C and 3°C at night, with expectations of rain in west Amman.

The JMD expected frost formation in the late evening hours of Thursday through Saturday. 

The power load on the national grid reached 3,100 megawatts (MW), a record high this winter, the director of production planning at the National Electric Power Company, Amin Zughul, told the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

The national grid has the capacity to take up a load of 3,800MW, he added.

The Ministry of Water and Irrigation said the rainfall on Tuesday and Wednesday channelled around 3.1 million cubic metres (mcm) of water into dams around the Kingdom, increasing the overall collected rain water to 1.727 billion cubic metres since the beginning of the rainy season.

The Ministry of Education suspended classes on Wednesday in Southern Shuneh and the Northern Ghor District. It also authorised heads of educational directorates across the Kingdom to suspend classes if necessary in coordination with administrative governors.

Also on Wednesday, Karak’s Mutah University suspended classes to ensure the safety of students and staff in the current weather conditions, according to Petra.

In Tafileh Governorate, some 180km southwest of Amman, the Electricity Distribution Company dealt with two power cuts caused by flying metal objects hitting electricity lines, due to strong winds, according to Petra.

The Jordanian Electric Power Company — which covers Amman, Zarqa, Madaba and Salt — said on Wednesday it has received 1,463 complaints in the previous 24 hours, which were all addressed, Petra reported.

Large objects carried by the strong winds had caused most of the damages to the power network, but the issues were fixed, the company said.

Moreover, the Electricity Distribution Company, which operates in southern governorates of Aqaba, Maan, Karak and Tafileh, said minor damages to its network were addressed. 

In Zarqa Governorate, around 23km northeast of Amman, authorities warned against the increased level of Zarqa River due to rainfall, Ruseifa Mayor Osama Haymour told Petra.

Meanwhile, Civil Defence Department (CDD) and Jerash municipality teams pumped out rainwater and wastewater from a school that was flooded in Souf area in Jerash Governorate, 48km north of Amman.

In Ajloun, CDD personnel pumped out water from homes in Anjara and Ain Jana.

Officials at the Central Traffic Department and the Greater Amman Municipality were unavailable for comment.