Temperature and Precipitation Fluctuation of Madinah-Al-Munawara, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (1959-2011)

Abstract

The work discusses the temperature and precipitation fluctuation of Madinah-Al-Munawara, Saudi Arabia for a time period of 1959-2011. This is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, the capital of Al Madinah Province and important religious place. For many years now, Royal Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is active on national as well as international levels to adopt a more suitable policy for the study of climate changes and reviews it periodically as per country economic desires. The main sectors that affect the temperature and precipitation fluctuations in Saudi Arabia are surface water, coastal management, overgrazing, forestry, livestock, drought, desertification, industrialization, landuse change, tourism, and aridity etc. The paper analyzes the temperature and precipitation fluctuations of Madinah-Al-Munawara in terms of general climatology, climate fluctuation/variation, seasonal distribution and extreme weather events. The mean monthly temperature of the city recorded during 1959-2011 is 28 ° C having mean maximum temperature of 34 ° C and mean minimum of 21 ° C. The mean monthly temperature of the city shows an increase of 1.7 ° C having 1.2 ° C increase in maximum temperature and decrease of -1.9 ° C in minimum temperature. Generally, there is a rise and fall in the temperature condition and shows irregular pattern throughout the period. The total precipitation of the city is 36 millimeters; having a decrease of -0.3 millimeters but in general the trend of precipitation at Madinah-Al-Munawara shows an increasing trend throughout the period. April and November are the wettest, while June, August, September and October are the hottest months of the city. The area is characterized by two main seasons that is winter (5 months) and summer (7 months), which can further be sub-divided into four rainy seasons namely winter, post-winter, summer, and post-summer seasons.