Storm to Bring Rain, Blowing Dust and Cooler Air to the Middle East

By Eric Leister, Meteorologist

March 9,2015; 9:00PM,EDT

 

 

A powerful cold front will bring big changes in the weather to the Middle East during the middle of this week.
Ahead of the front, dry and warm weather will prevail across the entire region, stretching from Egypt into Saudi Arabia northward through Iraq, Syria and eastern Turkey.
Ahead of this storm, temperatures will continue to average 4-8 degrees C (8-15 F ) above normal across the entire region, but temperatures will fall back to more seasonable levels behind the storm.

Along with the cooler air, this front will produce a round of rain with some embedded thunderstorms from Israel and Jordan northward into southeast Turkey from later Wednesday into Thursday.
Flash flooding will be the primary concern as rainfall of 25-50 mm (1-2 inches) can fall in a short period during the heaviest of the rainfall. Any thunderstorms will also be capable of producing locally damaging winds.
Cities at risk for locally heavy rainfall and strong winds include: Tel Aviv, Israel; Beirut, Lebanon; Aleppo, Syria; and Adana Turkey
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While damaging winds are a threat in any thunderstorms, strong winds will also kick up dust from Egypt into Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Iraq ahead of this front. Blowing dust will lower visibility creating travel disruptions from Wednesday into Thursday.
Cooler and showery weather will impact much of the region following the frontal passage on Friday and Saturday.