The Head of Department of Meteorology at the Jeddah-based King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Dr Mansour Almazroui has announced that the spring season in Saudi Arabia is characterized by sudden and extreme changes of weather, particularly in the north, middle and east of the Kingdom. In a statement to Saudi Press Agency (SPA), Dr. Almazroui, who is an expert in the field of climate changes, said that these sudden changes reach an optimum level in the month of April, consequently show decline until May. Dr. Almazroui said he expects sudden climate changes in spring season over Saudi Arabia with an increasing number of occurrence of dust storms caused by the passage of depressions that may cause reduction of visibility and can be followed by rainfall. He stressed that the frequency of the occurrence of the dust storms may be caused by pressure and temperature gradients and active surface winds due to the encounter between southerly and hot south-easterly winds associated with an extension of the 'Red Sea Trough', moving north and north east of Saudi Arabia, and cold north-westerly winds associated with the Mediterranean depressions passing north of Saudi Arabia. "These results in convergence in a small localized region associated with updrafts and downdrafts leading to dust initiating the upper atmosphere and may lead to precipitation and thunderstorms". --MORE
