KUWAIT: Kuwait’s Meteorological Department warned on Monday that minimum temperatures in many areas of the country will witness a “significant drop” to below 3 degrees Celsius, causing frost in some areas. The sharp drop in temperature will be witnessed the most between 3 am to 8 am, mainly in desert areas.
The office said it recorded freezing temperatures in the early hours of Monday, especially in desert areas. In Salmi, the lowest temperature recorded was -3º C, the first below zero temperature in the winter season this year. In Mitriba near Abdaly, the temperature was zero Celsius Monday morning, while it was 2º C in Abdaly and also 2º C in Manageesh in the south.
In Ahmadi and Warba Island, the temperature was 3º C. In other areas, the temperature ranged between 4º and 7º C. Maximum temperatures on Monday ranged between 13º and 17º C, the office said. Weather experts forecast the cold spell to continue until the weekend, when the temperature will start rising.
The Met Office said that the drop in temperatures resulted as “the country continues to be affected by an extension of a high-pressure system, accompanied by a cold and dry air mass, supported by severe cooling” in the upper air with light to moderate northwesterly winds. “The weather is expected to be rather cold by the day, and cold to very cold at night with a chance of frost formation over agricultural and desert areas until Thursday,” the office said.
Starting from Friday evening, the impact of the high-pressure system will weaken, allowing a low-pressure system to take effect with southeasterly winds, it said. Light scattered showers are expected over the weekend, it said.