Weekend rain boosts dam storage levels

AMMAN — The country’s 10 major dams now hold over 40 per cent of their total capacity of 325 million cubic metres (mcm) of water, officials at the Ministry of Water and Irrigation said on Saturday.

Rainfall between Friday night and Saturday morning channelled 570,000 cubic metres of water into the dams, Water Ministry Spokesperson Omar Salameh told The Jordan Times.

“Dams and desert dams in the southern and eastern regions received rainwater for the first time since this year’s wet season started in October,” Salameh added.

The country was affected by a depression and relatively cold air mass on Friday afternoon that brought heavy rain and thunderstorms during the night, according to the Jordan Meteorological Department (JMD).

Water Minister Hazem Nasser said in a statement e-mailed to The Jordan Times that the dams now hold 132.2mcm or 40.6 per cent of their total capacity.

During the same period last year, the dams held 101mcm or 31 per cent of their total capacity, according to official figures.

“The country received 327mcm of rain during the recent depression and 3 billion cubic metres since the start of the wet season, which constitutes 36 per cent of the long-term annual average of 8.5 billion cubic metres,” the statement quoted the minister as saying.

Nasser noted that Mafraq Governorate, 80km northeast of Amman, received the highest rainfall, followed by Zarqa, Karak, Tafileh, Aqaba and Maan.

He underscored that the rain so far signals a “good season”.

Meanwhile, the country will remain under the impact of the depression and the relatively cold air mass on Sunday and Monday, according to the JMD website.

The weather will be relatively cold and cloudy on Sunday, with scattered showers at times. Winds will be westerly moderate to brisk and temperatures in Amman will reach a high of 15°C during the day, dropping to a low of 5°C at night.

On Monday, it will remain relatively cold and partly cloudy, with chances of morning showers in the northern and eastern regions. Winds will be northwesterly moderate turning to northeasterly at night and temperatures in the capital will range between a maximum of 15°C and a minimum of 5°C at night.

The impact of the combined weather conditions is forecast to taper off on Tuesday, when a slight rise in temperatures is expected, the JMD website said.