The Meteorological Department of the General Administration of Civil Aviation said on Wednesday that their monitoring records show that most of the country’s areas in the summer are soaring up to temperatures above 50 degrees Celsius over the past 12 years.

In a statement to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA), Head of the Meteorology Department at the Kuwait Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) Dr. Hassan Dashti said that they monitored and recorded the amount of days where temperatures were 50 degrees Celsius and above since 2006-19 in Kuwait’s areas. According to the list of regions of the country recorded with the most days of utmost temperatures; first was Mitribah area with a temperature of 50 degrees Celsius, 236 times in the past 12 years, Sulaibiya area ranked second with 160 times, Dashti said.

Above 50 degrees Celsius in July was 468 times, which represents 51 percent of the total recorded cases versus 118 and 33 days in June and August with 36 percent and 13 percent respectively, he informed. There is a huge difference and a significant increase on the frequency of this phenomenon nowadays versus 1955-77, which requires reporting to the United Nations relevant bodies such as the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to show the vulnerability of Kuwait to climate change.

Proof of this phenomenon leads Kuwait to searching for international support in various methods to address this issue under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement implemented in December 2015, he added. WMO formed the Technical Coordination Committee (TCC), comprised of 15 scientists and experts from different countries to study and investigate what was observed, noticing that on July 21, 2016, the temperature reached 54 degrees Celsius, Dr. Dashti said.

After over 20 months of investigation, the meteorological department submitted data and reports approved by TCC, documented as the highest temperature of Asia, furthermore the third highest temperature recorded on the planet and lastly the highest temperature over the past 76 years in the world, he explained. This represents the summer of one of the most vital indicators of desert climate change in Kuwait and the Arabian Peninsula, Dashti pointed out.


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