Mazrou'i, head of the Department of Meteorology and supervisor of the Center of Excellence for Climate Change Research at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, has said that unstable weather is set to continue in most of the country this week. “The south and west of the Kingdom, including the Makkah region, is expected to see a new period of unstable weather beginning Tuesday and lasting until Friday,” he said. “Medium to heavy rain is forecast with intermittent thunderstorms.” He said that a belt of rain cloud will stretch from the south west of the Red Sea to the interior across the central region and the north east, with high instability through southern warm and humid currents and strong wind activity. “That means a chance of medium to heavy rains over Tuesday and Wednesday in various parts of the south west, including coastal areas and the region of Makkah, but particularly at high ground and southern coastal areas,” he said. Al-Mazrou'i said that the transition from winter to spring, which officially begins on March 21, habitually brings rapid and sometimes sharp changes in the weather. “The Kingdom has seen this winter rains higher than annual averages in some parts due to the current global La Ni?a weather phenomenon which has caused weather disturbances across the world,” he said. “Although there is no direct effect from the phenomenon, some parts of the country have seen unprecedented rains.”
