Saturday 14 / December / 2024
Muscat: Having received 78.4 millimetres of rain in the first month of 2020, this January was the wettest the capital has seen in over four decades, according to government data.
Also read: Moderate to heavy rains predicted over Oman
Reports maintained by Oman’s Directorate General of Meteorology and Air Navigation at the Public Authority for Civil Aviation revealed that since 1977, the amount of rain recorded in Muscat was the highest in January 2020.
In fact, the 78.4mm of rain the capital received last month exceeded the total amount of rain Muscat recorded during all of 2019, when it received 75mm of rain, with much of that coming in the months of November (19mm) and December (14.8mm).
Oman received so much rain during the past few months, because of repeated troughs and grooves of low pressure in the country’s skies, leading to rainfall in the northern and central areas of the country.
Many of these originated in the northern governorate of Musandam, and then travelled southwards, with rains being additionally seen in the governorates of Buraimi, North and South Al Batinah, North and South Sharqiyah, Dakhiliyah, Dhahirah and even some portions of Al Wusta and the Dhofar.
Commenting on this, an official at PACA told the Times of Oman, “In January 2020 the highest amount of rain was recorded in Muscat Governorate, since 1977.” Compared to this, Muscat received 50.5 mm of rain in January 1977. The rain received in November 1977 came close to the amount received last month, at 75.7 mm.
He added, “However, looking at all 11 governorates in January 2020, Musandam received the highest amount of rainfall at 100 mm. Usually, the month of January is mostly dry.”
But this year saw an increase in the rain due to the increase in the number of low pressure troughs and winter air depressions that passed through the airspace of the Sultanate.”
However, the most amount of rain ever received in a single month in Muscat was recorded by PACA in June 2007, when the rainfall amounted to 257mm. Another spell of heavy rain (145.4mm) was recorded in March 1997, while in December 1995 the capital received around 112.3mm of rain.
Having seen heavy rain in June 2007, the capital also received plenty of rainfall during the same month, three years later, when 89 mm of rain was recorded. Muscat also received more than 60mm of rain on at least five occasions in the past. These were, according to PACA’s data, in May 1981 (69.2 mm), April 2003 (74.6 mm) and July 1995 (68.3 mm), in addition to twice in the same year: March 1987 (67.9 mm), and April 1987 (67.3 mm)
The sustained rainfall Oman received at the end of last year and the beginning of this year, lead to the growth of green cover across many of the mountains in the country, leading to some very pleasant landscapes for people to see when they peeked out of their windows. The combination of this new-formed vegetation, along with the cool winds and low temperatures, made for some very pleasant weather in Muscat, as well as across many of the other governorates.
Having witnessed plenty of rainfall in January 2020, the weather, however, is for the most part expected to remain pleasant in February as well.
“According to the indicators, the Sultanate will still be affected by a trough of low pressure in February, and consequently, there are chances of rain,” said the PACA official. “For now, the temperature in February is as usual but will shift during the period of low pressure due to the winds blowing from the northwest. As a result, it will lead to a decrease in temperature.”
