KUWAIT: With summer arriving across the region, Kuwait seems to be enjoying spring-like weather for longer than usual this year. Many people in the country have already noticed that the customary oven-like temperatures and searing heat for which the country's summers are known have been late to arrive in 2011, with residents recalling that in previous years Kuwait's unforgiving summer weather always arrived fast, usually around March, and lasted for months. Winters in the Gulf region tend to be short and to give way to summer weather fast, with the barometer usually rising above 100 from March onwards.

These have been the recognized regional weather patterns for this area for at least three decades, but now things are changing, says local meteorologist Issa Ramadan, who attributes these shifting and unpredictable weather patterns to climate change. Ramadan explained that weather patterns across the world are inextricably linked to one another, with the air masses that affect the Middle East being most closely connected to those in the rest of the northern hemisphere.

In recent years, he went on, there have been massive changes in the movements of these air masses, which in turn affect the weather on the ground. "What I mean by movement is that the areas of low pressure that used to pass from the north to the south of the peninsula and affect Kuwait - since it's in the northern part of the peninsula - have now started to move towards areas such as southern Turkey, unlike the areas they used to pass over in the past 30 years," Ramadan told the Kuwait Times.

When these areas of low pressure diminish, he continued, the percentage of rainfall also decreases, leading to soil erosion, plants dying off and overgrazing on what pasture is available. These effects are also magnified by farmers reliant at least partly on regular rainfall giving up entirely on arable farming, leaving the land to become fallow and arid, and the presence of military equipment and possibly chemical substances which cause long-term damage to the soil in the area.

These effects lead in turn to an increase in aridity, further soil erosion, and higher levels of airborne particulates causing stronger sandstorms and the obscuring of solar radiation, creating a cyclical effect. The eminent meteorologist said that for the past couple of months Kuwait has been affected by an area of high pressure, which has led to the usual brief transition from winter to summer weather being prolonged and the advent of a 'spring' period far longer than usual.

He explained that a build-up of heavy thunderhead clouds bringing cold winds at ground level has also contributed to the continuing spring-like weather. "These winds block solar radiation and keep the temperature slightly lower during the nighttime," he added. All these factors combined have delayed the arrival of Kuwait's usual scorching summer temperatures, which have not yet reached 40 degrees Celsius (104� Fahrenheit), their average level for this time of year, whilst the temperature of the country's coastal waters also remains unusually cool for the season. - Kuwait Times