MUSCAT: The Sultanate had its coolest summer in 2020 and the same year also had the warmest winter since 2011. At the same time, 2020 was one of the wettest months since 2011.
The mean maximum temperature in the Sultanate saw an increase between the years 2017 and 2019, only to drop substantially in 2020.
The mean maximum temperatures were 32.3 °C in 2011, which dropped to 31 °C between 2012 and 2016.
The temperatures, however, raised substantially to 33.6 °C in 2017, 37.8°C in 2018, 35.8 °C in 2019.
Last year, 2020, the mean temperatures were only 28.7 °C, a significant drop from previous years.
However, with minimum temperatures, 2017 was the coolest at 17°C and 2020 was the warmest weather at 27.5 °C.
In terms of rainfall, 2013 was the wettest with 139.2 mm of rainfall, followed by 103°C in 2020. The year 2015 was the driest year since 2011 as it received only 69°C mm of rainfall.
The mean humidity in 2020 was also low at 71.3 compared to 87 in 2019 and 86 in 2018.
In 2020, the average temperatures were 34.6°C in June, 33.3 in July, 33.1 in August, and 31.8 in September.
January 2020 was the wettest month in 2020 with 33.6 mm of rainfall, followed by 29.5 mm in May and 25 mm in March.
Similarly, Muscat received 60.3 mm of rainfall and Al Buriami 85.9 mm in January 2020.
Countries of the Arabian Peninsula, which includes the Sultanate on its southeastern edge will unlikely be spared any of the dire weather-related predictions made by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its report published earlier this week.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has been to enhance understanding of the financing opportunities available from the Green Climate Fund and the requirements for obtaining it at the national level, in a way that enables the Sultanate to benefit from the financing opportunities available to a shift towards a low-carbon economy and face challenges from climate change and its negative effects on the various sectors in the Sultanate.
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
