“Coffin-building” winds are behind the drop in “temperature” in the country

Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Emirates Astronomy Society and member of the Arab Union for Space and Astronomy, Ibrahim Al Jarwan, expected that temperatures would continue to drop significantly during tomorrow, while the temperature at the top of Jebel Jais would be below zero degrees Celsius at dawn, indicating that the cold wave would break the day after tomorrow.

Regarding the causes of the extreme cold during the current days, Al-Jarwan told “Emarat Al-Youm” that it is due to the activity of the “coffin winds”, which cause temperatures to drop throughout the country. They are cold northern/northeasterly winds, blowing from the direction of the stars of the “coffin daughters”, originating deep in the Asian plateau, which witnesses very low temperatures.

He pointed out that the temperatures yesterday did not exceed 20 degrees Celsius in most cities, and did not exceed 10 degrees Celsius at heights that reach 1,200 metres, while at the summit of Jebel Jais (1,900 metres) it was below five degrees most of the day.

He explained that, however, the perceived temperature in general is minus 5.5 degrees Celsius, which expresses the extent to which a person feels cold, due to wind or humidity, and does not express the cooling of surfaces or the actual temperature of surfaces, which is the value of the wind chill index.

He explained that winds at a speed of 24 kilometers per hour, and a temperature of nearly zero degrees Celsius, quickly withdraw heat from the body, making a person feel as if the air temperature is about five to six degrees below zero.

He pointed out that the lowest temperatures we witness during the “Shabat” period, which falls between January 15 and February 10, and according to monitoring data, the period between January 12 and 24 witnesses the lowest 10 continuous days in temperature.

He said that the Jebel Jais Meteorological Station recorded, yesterday morning, a temperature of 0.2 degrees Celsius at 05:45, with humidity of 100% and a wind speed of 24 kilometers per hour.

He added that the height of the National Center of Meteorology’s meteorological station there is about 1,480 meters above sea level, while the height of the summit of Jebel Jais exceeds 1,900 meters above sea level, and it is considered the highest peak in the Emirates. Therefore, it is expected that temperatures near the summit will fall below zero degrees Celsius, and as a result of the high humidity in the morning, the formation of frost was possible.