The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's climate can be characterized as a semi-arid to arid desert environment with hot days and cold nights. Its annual precipitation levels have severely decreased with the exception of the Asir region, located in the Southwestern area of the Kingdom, which receives an average precipitation level of about 300mm annually.
The ranges of maximum temperature levels across the Kingdom’s seasons are as follows:
20° – 30° degrees Celsius during the Winter season, from December to February.
30° – 40° degrees Celsius during the Spring season, from March to May.
35° – 45° degrees Celsius during the Summer season, from June to August.
25° – 35° degrees Celsius during the Autumn season, from September to November.
Climate change, a shift in the earth’s weather patterns and average temperatures, is the main contributing factor to rising global temperatures, resulting in major and noticeable changes to the climate. The leading factor to these changes is human activity. Since the Industrial revolution in the 1800’s, the world has experienced an increase in worldwide temperatures due to the burning of fossil fuels and how humans choose to use the land around them, which leads to agriculture, deforestation, forest fires, and greenhouse gas emission, to name a few.
Saudi Arabia is vulnerable to climate change since the majority of its ecosystems are sensitive, its renewable water sources are scarce, and the Kingdom is highly dependent on fossil fuel exports. Here, you will become familiarized with climate change within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and how the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 is looking to tackle these risks by understanding the main contributing factors to climate change and what measures are being taken, through on-going
Climate Forecast
While short-term forecasts provide accurate weather information, seasonal forecasts provide key weather predictions, indicating if the forecast will be warmer or colder, drier or wetter than usual, this information differs from monthly to seasonal predications. Numerical models are used for these predications to stimulate interactions between the atmosphere and a variety of slow changing elements related to the climate, such as oceans, glaciers, and water in soil and snow.
Sea surface temperatures are one of the most important factors affecting weather variables on a seasonal basis. The seasonal forecast provides useful information for various sections including, public health, disaster preparation, water management, energy and agriculture. Additionally, a seasonal climate report, which is a report that highlights the current and expected climate situations during each season of the year in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and this can be determined by analyzing climate data such as pressure, weather, wind speed, temperature levels, and precipitation rates
Drought Monitoring
Droughts are extended periods of months and years when an area suffers a shortage of water supply. This generally occurs when an area is receiving less than average levels of precipitation, having a major impact on the ecosystem and agriculture in the affected area. Although droughts can last for several years, both severe and short-term droughts can cause extensive damage to the local economy.
Climate Control
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is committed to reducing the emission of greenhouse gases while simultaneously adapting to the negative effects of climate change. Carried out through the development of integrated and comprehensive energy-saving systems, the Kingdom is working to obtain a level of climate control sufficiency through continuous energy saving programs while also launching several projects aimed at increasing renewable energy production. Certifying the safety and security of energy sources ensures that the basic needs of the global economy are met.
Meteorological Services
- Local Weather Forecasts: Weather forecasts provide individuals with daily and weekly weather forecasts, as well as marine forecasts, to keep the public informed about weather conditions and help reduce weather-related losses, thereby enhancing societal benefits such as protecting life, property, public health, and safety, as well as supporting economic prosperity and enhancing quality of life.
- Holy Regions Weather Forecasts: Daily weather forecasts are provided for the Holy regions where Hajj and Umrah rituals are performed, including Jeddah, Makkah, and Al-Madinah. These forecasts also include the upcoming weather conditions, such as wind speed and direction, humidity levels, highest and lowest temperature levels, and sky predictions (rain, sun, cloudiness, etc.).
- Integrated Radar Imaging System (IRIS): Radar maps ais a type of technology that enables users to track weather conditions in real time. The interactive map consists of color patterns that represent the location and current weather conditions to warm individuals of severe storms and climate hazards.
- Infrared (IR) Satellite: IR Satellite is an imagery temperature map that detects heat energy in the infrared spectrum, which is energy that is invisible to the human eye. Objects representing clouds, water and land surfaces are displayed. Each object is given a color, indicating how cold or hot that particular area is.
- Automated Early Warning System: Automatic early warning service is provided by the National Center of Meteorology. By providing the time and location, it intends to transmit air traffic control alerts, such as those for severe rain and tornadoes, to the intended audience. Visitors of this page can check a map of the Kingdom to learn more about alert cases and the weather. Each of the four colors on the map—green, yellow, orange, and red—denotes a different warning stage. Furthermore, based on data from the National Center of Meteorology, the Civil Defense sends weather warning text messages to citizens and residents based on their geographic location. Besides that, the National Center of Meteorology continuously sends out weather forecasts and warnings via its Twitter account.