Saudi Arabia weather: Red alert and heavy rain in 6 regions today
The National Center for Meteorology issued an advanced warning on Tuesday, raising the alert level to "red alert," forecasting heavy rainfall accompanied by severe weather phenomena across large parts of six major regions in the Kingdom. These warnings are part of the ongoing monitoring of weather conditions to ensure the safety of citizens and residents.
Weather details and affected areas
The weather report indicated that the rainy conditions will continue at their peak between 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM, with accompanying effects including high-speed winds that may lead to a lack of horizontal visibility, in addition to hail, flash floods in valleys and ravines, thunderstorms, and a noticeable rise in waves in coastal areas.
The center has identified the cities and governorates covered by the red alert as follows:
- Makkah Region: Includes Jeddah, Al Kamil, Khulais, Al Shu’aiba, Bahra, and Rabigh.
- The Madinah region includes: Al-Rais, Yanbu, Al-Mahd, Al-Hanakiya, Wadi Al-Fara, Badr, Madinah, and Khaybar.
- Tabuk region: includes Umluj and Tayma.
- Northern Border Region: Includes Arar, Al-Uwaiqilah and Rafha.
- Hail region: It includes Al-Hait, Al-Sulaimi, Al-Shamli, Al-Ghazala, Hail, Muwaqq, Al-Shanan, Baqaa, and Samira.
- Al-Qassim region: includes Abanat, Al-Khabra, Ar-Rass, Al-Fawarah, An-Nabhania, Riyadh Al-Khabra, Dhariyah, Uqlat As-Suqur, Al-Asyah, Al-Badai, Al-Bukayriyah, Ath-Thamiriya, Ash-Shamasiyah, Al-Ammar, Al-Mudhnib, Buraydah, Unayzah, and Uyun Al-Jawa.
The importance of the early warning system and the geographical context
The "Red Alert" system is the highest level of alert in the National Center for Meteorology's automated early warning system. It is activated when weather phenomena are severe and require the utmost caution. These warnings are of paramount importance due to the Kingdom's geography, where heavy rainfall often causes flash floods that flow rapidly through wadis, potentially posing a danger to highways and low-lying areas.
Historically, the Kingdom experiences severe weather fluctuations during the transitional periods between seasons, which prompted the concerned authorities to develop an advanced technological infrastructure to monitor these cases with high accuracy, to enable security and service agencies, such as the Civil Defense, to prepare in advance to deal with any emergency.
Fog effects and reduced visibility
In a related weather update, the center also warned of varying intensities of fog forming over scattered areas in the aforementioned regions and other areas during the early morning hours. This phenomenon is expected to persist until 8:00 or 9:00 AM in some locations.
The effects of fog range from a decrease in horizontal visibility to between (3-5) kilometers, and near-zero visibility (1-3) kilometers, and may reach a complete lack of visibility (less than one kilometer) on highways and open areas, which requires drivers to be extremely careful and leave safe distances.
Public safety recommendations
Due to the severity of the expected weather conditions, everyone is advised to follow weather updates through official channels, stay away from flood channels and valleys, avoid areas prone to water accumulation, and adhere to the instructions of the Civil Defense and Traffic authorities to ensure public safety.
