In late November, The Jordan Times ran a bold headline declaring “Depression expected to start affecting country at noon.” It wasn’t a satirical poke at the nation’s many neuroses, but a candid weather warning describing a seasonal dip in air pressure that – when coupled with a massive cold front – was about to pummel the region in torrential rain. Golf-ball sized hail and early snow also made an appearance. It was a perfect storm that submerged much of the Middle East.
Intense precipitation can easily overrun urban infrastructure meant to manage water runoff and drainage, especially in cash-strapped cities unable to maintain those systems in optimal working order. But what happens when weather becomes increasingly extreme in terms of frequency and ferocity?
In Amman, pump failures resulted in instant flooding of highway underpasses, clogging city traffic for hours. In Israel, lightning strikes prompted service shut-down on the Israeli Railroad. In Gaza, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency declared an emergency when extreme weather and severe flooding exacerbated an already dire humanitarian situation. Hundreds of residents in the flooded areas around the Sheikh Radwan storm-water lagoon were forced to evacuate their homes.
A new report from the World Bank called “Turn Down the Heat: Confronting the New Climate Normal” warned of increasingly severe weather for much of the world as a result of planetary warming. Key findings specific to the Middle East include increased vulnerability to coastal flooding and inland water shortages.
As the Earth warms, scientists say that weather extremes that today occur once every 100 years will become the “new climate normal,” creating increased risks and instability, and putting the livelihoods of millions of people at risk.
World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said, “We’re already seeing record-breaking temperatures occurring more frequently, rainfall increasing in intensity in some places, while drought-prone regions like the Mediterranean are becoming drier.”
Is this simply weird winter weather or an introduction to global warming? Swim through some images of the Middle East’s newest “beaches” and tell us what you think.
