Jordan receives 34.4% of annual rainfall average — Water Ministry

AMMAN — This season’s rainfall has surpassed the amount recorded over the same period of last year, as Jordan’s dams have received some six million cubic metres (mcm) of rain over the past 24 hours, the Water Ministry said on Tuesday.

The ministry said that the amount of rainfall since the start of the season reached some 2.823 billion cubic metres (bcm) of the annual average, which constitutes 34.4 per cent of the country’s annual average of 8.1bcm. The same period last year reached 16.1 per cent of the annual rainfall average, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

The ministry noted that the highest quantity of rainfall over the past 24 hours was recorded in Shoubak, which received 45.4mcm.

The recent rainfall was mainly focused on Al Tannour Dam in Tafileh, which received some 2.7mcm, Al Karak’s Mujib Dam at 758,000 cubic metres and Jerash’s King Talal Dam with 1.295mcm.

The recent downpour increased the dams’ total storage to some 43.5mcm, accounting for 15.5 per cent of their total capacity of 280.760mcm. Last year, rainfall filled dams at an average of 38mcm, or 13.8 per cent, during the same period, according to the ministry. 

Over the past 24 hours, the total quantity of rainfall in the Kingdom reached around 1.147bcm, distributed between 741mcm in Maan, 109mcm in Amman, 87mcm in Aqaba, 54mcm in Mafraq, 44mcm in Tafileh and 40mcm in Karak.

The highest precipitation rate was recorded in Shoubak with 45.4mm, followed by Rajef with 44mm, Sadaqah with 40.6mm, Wadi Musa with 38.2mm and Maan with 31.6mm.

At the governorate level, Tafileh received a total of 21.1mm of rain, followed by Balqa with 16mm, Madaba with 14.8mm, Amman with 14.6mm, Aqaba with 12.5mm, Jerash with 7.3mm, Irbid with 4.9mm, Zarqa with 4.8mm and Mafraq with 3.6mm of rainwater, the ministry added.