Deserts envelop snow and storms penetrate cities. What is happening in the Arab world?

Cold spells of varying degrees of intensity are expected to occur almost everywhere, but their frequency of occurrence is what still holds the attention of scientists

The Arab world is currently exposed to a strong cold snap that some countries have never seen before, in Syria, Jordan and Libya, and the snow has reached areas where it has not appeared for many years, and in Lebanon, cold storms caused power cuts. in several regions.

In Egypt, a strong wave of bad weather swept through the country, including heavy rains, with record temperatures both day and night, prompting the country to halt some tourist activities, especially in the Sinai Peninsula.

A new Arab homeland

Cold spells are periods of time that indicate a sudden drop in temperatures below their known levels in a particular region, and they usually occur in winter and are associated with snowfall.

Due to the natural changes in the weather, cold spells of varying degrees of intensity are expected to occur almost everywhere, but what still catches the attention of scientists is the rates of occurrence of these. types of waves.

To understand the idea more closely to reality, consider, for example, what is happening now in the town of Ain Al-Safra in the Algerian Ostrich State, where the town has witnessed heavy falls of snow on three occasions, all of which have occurred in the past 5 years: 2017, 2018 and 2021.

Before the turn of the millennium, the Arab world was not up to date with so many (European) climatic disturbances.

And before the turn of the millennium, the Arab world was not on time with so many climatic disturbances, and here we are talking about a wide range of heatwaves, cold waves and dust storms.

For example, in September 2015, an exceptional sandstorm hit the Middle East, killing people and suspending public life. Meanwhile, a Princeton University research team is studying it, revealing that the results reveal that climate change – along with other factors – was a major cause.

The study highlighted droughts that covered several regions of the Arab world, in particular the fact that the summer of 2015 was unprecedentedly hot and that the amount of dust available for the storm increased, which worsened its impact.

The prices are high

In fact, the past 7 years have been the hottest in the history of global average temperature measurements, but could global warming cause cold spells? A team of scientists believe that rising global average temperatures are helping to increase rates of various climate disturbances, including cold spells.

For example, an international research team observed in 2019 that unusually warm temperatures in the Arctic could destabilize the cold polar vortex spinning above, causing some of its effects to travel deeper distances of west to east, and this study is published. Nature Climate Change newspaper.

On the one hand, computer simulations from 2016 predicted that with increasing average arctic temperatures, we might expect an increase in the frequency and intensity of cold spells in northern temperate regions. over the next few years.

Scientists predicted, with the onset of “sudden stratospheric warming” last month, the emergence of a severe cold snap in separate areas (Europe)

In addition, a joint research team from several British universities had indicated that the stratosphere of the Earth’s atmosphere is experiencing – from January 5, 2021 – an unusual climatic condition called “sudden stratospheric warming”. It causes a severe cold snap over the weeks. Following that date, in different parts of the world, and we were on Al-Jazeera.net We covered the study of this team in a previous report.

This event has repeated an average of 40 times over the past 60 years, and it may – in combination with climate change – increase the rate of severe cold spells and send them to regions further south and across the Arab world. .

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