Warmer, less-humid March in Kingdom

TDT | Manama

The month of March was warmer than normal, with below-average relative humidities and wind speed, the Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications’ Meteorological Directorate announced yesterday.

The mean temperature of the month was 22.1degrees Celsius, which is 1.1degrees C above the long-term normal for March, the directorate said in its monthly weather summary. The mean maximum temperature of the month was 26.2degrees C, which is 1.5degrees C above the long-term normal.

The highest temperature recorded during the month was 31.2degrees C, which occurred on March 15 at Bahrain International Airport (BIA), but recorded 32.1degrees C on March 18 at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) and on March 29 at Durrat Al Bahrain. The mean minimum temperature of the month was 19.2 degrees C, which is 1.4degrees C above the long-term normal. The lowest temperature recorded was 15.6degrees C set on March 6 at BIA, but recorded 12.4degrees C the same night in Durrat.

A total of 6.4mm of precipitation was reported in March at BIA. Trace amounts were recorded on March 14, 18 and 28. The long-term average total precipitation for March was 14.0mm. The highest monthly total precipitation ever recorded during March at BIA was 139.2mm in 1995. Thundery showers were reported at BIA on March 21 accumulating daily total precipitation of 6.4mm and the visibility dropped to 1,000meters. Moderate thundery showers with hail were reported in some areas around Bahrain.

Light rain was reported in some areas on March 15. The total precipitation recorded for March at BIC was 16.0mm, whereas the total precipitation at Durrat was 14.8mm, at King Fahd Causeway was 7.2mm and at Sitra Island was 2.4mm. The mean relative

Tne records began in 1968, whereby the monthly total hours of sunshine recorded was 287.4hours, exceeded only by March 2018 with a record of 324.3hours and March 2013 with a record of 291.3hours. The Northwesterly winds accounted 25 per cent with gusts reaching 48knots on March 21 at Durrat. Southeasterly winds accounted 16 per cent of the observation with gusts reaching 37knots on March 14 at BIA. Fog affected the Kingdom on March 11 and it reduced the visibility to 100meters at BIA. This phenomenon had not occurred in March since the year 2002, when fog patches reported on March 11 reduced the visibility to 800meters at the airport.