Kuwait climate to enter ‘dangerous phase’ by ’23

High temp may reach unprecedented rates globally

KUWAIT CITY, Nov 2: During the very hot summer, the majority of Kuwaiti residents resort to air-conditioned indoor places, whether for housing, work, or even shopping and entertainment. Those who are forced by their work to stay in open places are exposed to high temperatures every year, which may reach unprecedented rates globally in the coming years, reports

Al-Qabas daily.

A meteorological observatory in Mutribah, northwest of Kuwait, recorded a temperature of 54.4 degrees Celsius on July 21, 2016, the highest ever in Asia, and the third globally since records began in 1886.

The meteorological department’s forecaster, Abdulaziz Al-Qarawi, warned that Kuwait will enter a “dangerous phase” by 2035, with annual average temperatures expected to increase by about two degrees Celsius compared to 2010.

Al-Qarawi explained that these rates actually increased by 1.1 degrees in the years from 2010 to 2021 compared to the previous 30 years. In the past few years, Kuwait recorded highest temperatures, including 54 degrees in the Jahra region in 2021 and 53 degrees in the Sulaibiya in 2020, both of which are populated areas.

According to Al-Qarawi, temperatures above 50 degrees Celsius were recorded in Kuwait for one, two or even four days a year in the 1980s and 1990s, but they are now recorded perhaps twenty days a year.

The intensity of the air, thunder and dust storms that hit the country has also increased, which are usually loaded with dust that leads to cases of suffocation, especially for people with chest diseases. It also transmits harmful bacteria and increases the spread of skin diseases.

Unprecedented

Kuwait was hit by torrential rains in various regions, which were described as unprecedented in November 2018, after which the Minister of Public Works, Hussam Al-Roumi, resigned, after extensive damage to property and disruption of movement on roads and streets.

Al-Qarawi said that the cyclones that hit the south of the Arabian Peninsula, especially the Sultanate of Oman and Yemen, are more and more frequent than before and are becoming more violent.

In Kuwait, the violence of rainstorms increases with a lower rate of annual recurrence, but the amount of rain has become more than before.

He added that the dry seasons became longer, which increased the sandstorms that came last summer in the month of May, unusually, as they are always in transitional periods between seasons.

He explained that the impact of climate change extends to the economic and urban life in Kuwait, as development efforts as well as projects are disrupted due to the high temperatures in the summer.

Kuwait prohibits the employment of workers in open areas during the afternoon hours from eleven in the morning until four in the afternoon daily during the summer season, which usually extends from June until the end of August.