What is it about?

The Middle East has a dry climate, however, infrequent heavy rainfall can cause flooding. We investigated three extreme precipitation cases that affected Saudi Arabia in autumn, winter and spring. The atmospheric circulations in which the rain storms developed, were characterised by interaction between the tropical and extratropical circulations. Intrusion of a midlatitude upper-level trough into the subtropics stimulated an incursion of tropical moisture over the Arabian Peninsula, fuelling the heavy rainfall. Using observational and reanalysis data, trajectory calculations and diagnostics, we study the precipitation characteristics, circulation patterns, moisture transport pathways and forcing of upward motions that were associated with the extreme precipitation.

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Why is it important?

Extreme precipitation in the region can cause flooding with dramatic societal impacts. Therefore, it is of high interest to provide a better understanding of the atmospheric conditions in which these flood producing rain storms develop. Such understanding is important for weather forecasting and early warning systems that aim to alleviate potential impacts of flooding, as well as anticipation of changing extreme precipitation characteristics in a warming climate.

Perspectives

Weather and climate in the Middle East has received only little attention in scientific research. Here we investigated the atmospheric dynamics organising the flood producing rain storms in Saudi Arabia. The underlying tropical-extratropical interactions are similar to those of extreme precipitation events in other, well-studied, subtropical arid regions such as southwestern North America, northwestern Africa, South Africa and Pakistan.

Mr. Andries-Jan A.J. De Vries

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This page is a summary of: Dynamics of tropical-extratropical interactions and extreme precipitation events in Saudi Arabia in autumn, winter and spring, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, April 2016, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1002/qj.2781.
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