‘Weekend rainfall failed to boost dam levels’

AMMAN — Rainfall over the weekend failed to boost the “poor” levels of water storage in the country’s major dams, which now hold 35 per cent of their total capacity of 325 million cubic metres (mcm), a government official said on Sunday.

“Minimal amounts of rainwater entered the dams in the northern region, while those in the south didn’t receive any,” Jordan Valley Secretary General Saad Abu Hammour told The Jordan Times.

Abu Hammour noted that since the onset of the wet season on October 19, the dams received only 2.6mcm of water.

A wet air mass affected the country last Wednesday, causing temperatures to drop below their annual average during this time of the year and brought rain to the northern and central regions, according to the Jordan Meteorological Department (JMD), which expects the country to be affected by the wet season’s first depression on Monday.

Hussein Momani, director of the JMD’s National Weather Forecast Centre, said there are indicators that the performance of the current wet season is “better” than last year.

“There are no figures yet, but rain came earlier than last year,” Momani told The Jordan Times.

He noted that the country will be affected on Monday by a weak depression, the wet season’s first, which will bring rain and cause temperatures to drop by five to six degrees below their annual average of 23°C during this time of the year.

“Westerly to northwesterly winds will prevail and rain showers are expected until Wednesday night, when the depression is expected to ease off,” Momani noted.

The weather will be cloudy on Monday, with chances of scattered showers in the northern and central regions. Temperatures in Amman will range between a high of 18°C during the day and a low of 13°C at night.

Another slight drop in mercury levels is forecast for Tuesday, when the weather will continue to be cloudy and wet at times, with temperatures in the capital reaching a maximum of 17°C and dropping to a minimum of 12°C.

On Wednesday, scattered showers are expected in the morning and the weather will continue to be cloudy with winds becoming easterly to northeasterly moderate.

Temperatures in Amman will range between 18°C and 13°C.