Analysing the weather conditions accompanying the rainy days in the dry year 2007/2008 and the wet year 2002/2003

Abstract

The study aims to analyse the weather conditions and the upper weather elements associated with the wet year 2002/2003, and the dry year 2007/2008 in Jordan for the months from November to March, by using the amounts of precipitation in rainy days for each year, and analyzing synoptic maps at a pressure level (500hpa) for rainy days to determine the direction of the axes of the cold upper troughs and the upper warm ridges and the extent of their correlation with the prevalence of humidity and drought conditions. Tephigram charts were also analysed, and the correlation between the amounts of precipitation in rainy days and the higher elements (temperature, dew point, wind speed, relative humidity in addition to altitude) were revealed. The study found a strong positive correlation between the amounts of rain and the upper elements in a wet year at the level of (500hp), and there was a big difference between the dew point curve and the temperature curve in the tephigram indicating the stability of air and the low relative humidity in the dry year. The cold upper troughs reach the eastern basin of the Mediterranean during the wet year, with mostly north-south axes in the wet year, while during the dry year it was mostly heading towards north-south axes, but its locations were shifting either towards the Syrian borders or to the centraland western basins of the Mediterranean.