Winter arrived in the Eastern Province last week forcing residents to wear warm clothes. “Winter arrived late this year, which is why we are experiencing this cold spell now,” a weather forecaster at the Dhahran Meteorology and Environmental Protection Agency (MEPA) said. Last weekend temperatures went as low as six degrees Celsius, and February could also be cold, the forecaster said. “The truth is that we cannot make long-term forecasts; we can only accurately predict the weather for the next two days,” he said. In the Eastern Province, winter normally starts in late September and lasts until late March the following year. Summer is from April until early September. “The late winter this year has been caused by changes in global temperatures, which are being experienced around the world,” the forecaster said. The winter season in the Kingdom varies from region to region. In early January 2008, the northern region of the country experienced subzero temperatures with snowstorms and freezing winds of up to 50km/h.
