Summer officially begins Tuesday — JMD

AMMAN — Tuesday marks the first day of summer, the Jordan Meteorological Department (JMD) said on Sunday. 

The summer solstice will occur at 5:30am on Tuesday, marking the longest day of the year with 14 hours and 15 minutes, and the shortest night of the year with nine hours and 45 minutes, the JMD said as reported by the Jordan News Agency, Petra. 

Average maximum temperatures in Amman during the summer sit at around 32ºC with average minimum temperatures of 18.5ºC, according to the JMD. 

JMD Director Raed Al Khattab said that the highest daily temperature registered in Amman in the summer was 43.5ºC in 2000 and 2010, while the lowest nighttime temperature during the summer was 10.2ºC.

Khattab said that on summer solstice, the sun becomes vertical over the Tropic of Cancer, 23.5 degrees north of the Equator. 

In Aqaba, the highest recorded temperature reached 47.6ºC in July 1956 and August 1959, while in the Jordan Valley it was 48.8ºC in August 2010 at the JMD station in Wadi Al Rayyan.

Seasonal forecasts for this summer show that temperatures will be higher than their annual average with 0.5 to 1ºC in most regions of the Kingdom, with an accuracy rate of 70 per cent.