There was an increase in rainfall in 2015 compared to the previous years, with the Doha International Airport station topping the charts with 114.5mm of rain, according to data released by the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics (MDPS).
December was the wettest month at the station, which received 51.3mm of rain.
The MDPS, in collaboration with the Civil Aviation Authority – Qatar Meteorological Department, has released the data within the Annual Statistical Abstract. This comes on the occasion of World Meteorological Day, observed on March 23 every year, with this year’s theme being “Hotter, drier, wetter. Face the Future”.
The chief meteorological phenomena in 2015 included an increase in rainfall compared to previous years.
While the Doha International Airport station received the highest annual rainfall at 114.5mm, Mesaieed recorded 95.4mm, Al Ruwais 82.5mm and Dukhan 72.1mm. The Al Karaana station recorded 37.5mm of rain in 2015, according to the statistics.
The annual rainfall figures at the Doha International Airport station more than doubled in 2015 (114.5mm) as compared to 2014 (52.4mm). The station has been witnessing an increase in rainfall over the past few years after a drop in 2012, when it came down to 23.9mm from 70.5mm in 2011.
A total of 51.3mm of rain was recorded in December 2015, followed by 34.2mm and 20.2mm in March and November, respectively.
The weather charts have also revealed that the average maximum temperature in 2015 ranged from 30.3C at the Al Ruwais station to 36.7C at Al Karaana, with Mesaieed recording 33.8C, Doha International Airport 33.7C and Dukhan 31.9C.
The average relative humidity ranged from 35.8% at Al Karaana to 67.9% at Al Ruwais. The corresponding figures for the other stations were 59.2% at Dukhan, 54.1% at Mesaieed and 51.7% at Doha International Airport.
Further, the data show that the Doha International Airport station recorded an average of eight hours of sunshine during the winter and 10 hours in the summer.
Temperatures crossed 45C a total of 15 times
Statistics released by the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics, in collaboration with the Civil Aviation Authority – Qatar Meteorological Department, revealed that there were a total of 15 days in 2015 when the temperature went beyond 45C, eight of which were in July.
In July 2015, the average monthly temperatures at the Doha International Airport station were a maximum of 42.3C and minimum of 32.7C. According to data, the maximum July temperature at the station reached a high of 47C in 2014, while the highest minimum temperature - 33.9C - was recorded in July 2013.
There was an increase in rainfall in 2015 in Qatar compared to the previous years.
