Winter in the UAE starts today and continues until March 20

Sharjah, December 21 / WAM / Ibrahim Al Jarwan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Emirates Astronomical Society, a member of the Arab Federation for Space and Astronomy, said that the winter season begins astronomically in the country, today with the date of the winter solstice, which this year falls today, December 21, at 19:03 pm UAE time, and continues until next March 20, the date of the astronomical entry into the spring season.

He explained in a statement to the Emirates News Agency, WAM, that the winter season begins according to the astronomical concept when the sun is perpendicular to its lowest point south of the Earth in the Tropic of Capricorn, and that is on December 21 and 22 of each year, the date of the winter solstice, in the northern half of the Earth, while winter begins according to the climatic concept at the beginning of December, when temperature rates decrease and the cold intensifies in the northern half of the Earth.

He added that the length of the night reaches its peak at the beginning of the winter season, while the length of the day is shorter (as the length of time between sunrise to sunset is approximately 10:32 hours in the Emirates), and then the length of the day increases gradually until night is equal to day before the spring equinox.

He pointed out that the “winter quadrant” begins in the desert of the Levant and Iraq with the winter solstice, while the cold weather in the Arabian Peninsula region reaches its peak during the winter, especially during the period from mid-December to mid-February, and the minimum temperatures are below 15 degrees Celsius in the coastal areas and fall below 10 degrees Celsius in the areas located deep in the desert and mountain highlands, and may reach below 5 degrees Celsius in the center of the Arabian Peninsula and fall below zero degrees Celsius in the highlands above 1,800 meters and in the northern outskirts of the region.

The region is also affected by cold air masses from time to time during this period, at a rate of air depression every 7 to 10 days, during which temperatures drop by at least 4 degrees Celsius from their normal levels.

Al-Jarwan pointed out that the average temperature at the beginning of the winter season reaches 12 degrees at the minimum and 25 degrees at the maximum, then the air temperature increases gradually in mid-February until it reaches 15 degrees and 28 degrees in the middle of the season and reaches 18 degrees and 32 degrees at its end. During this season, the northern and western winds blow and are active, and the strong and cold “north winds” and “nashy winds” are active from the beginning of January to the end of February, and the Arabian Gulf is volatile and calm. Sometimes and sometimes it waves.

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