The Director of the Meteorology Department, Raed Al-Khattab announced that Monday will coincide with the first day of the winter solstice of 2020 at 12 PM.

The winter solstice is the astronomical first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and the shortest day of the year.

On this day, the sun rises at 6:32 AM from the southeast corner at 117 °, and sets in the Southwestern corner Southwestern at 243 ° at 4:36 PM. The daylight hours for this day are 10 hours and four minutes, while the number of night hours is 13 hours and 56 minutes.

The winter solstice will continue until the end of Jan. 2021. Usually, the last day of the winter solstice is the coldest day of the year, which is usually characterized by severe cold and the formation of frosts, especially if very cold and dry eastern winds blow over the region accompanying the Siberian High (a massive collection of cold dry air that accumulates in the northeastern part of Eurasia from September until April.)

In the winter solstice of 2019/2020, snowfall was witnessed over mountainous heights in Ras Munif and Al-Shobak, with solstice rains accounting for 30 percent of the total rainy season in the Kingdom.

Al Khattab added that the climate records and other climate studies in the Climate Directorate of the Amman Civil Airport monitoring station during the past 100 years indicated that the highest total rainfall during the winter solstice period in Jordan was in the 1973 and 1974 seasons, which resulted in 215 millimeters of rainfall, achieving 87 percent of its seasonal average.

The lowest total rainfall in the winter solstice was 0.6 millimeters in 2013 and 2014.

The area with the highest overall rainfall during the winter solstice was in Ajloun in 1991 and 1992. The rain witnessed was 398.8 millimetres, which achieved 69 percent of its seasonal average of 586.8 millimeters.

Climatic statistical studies in the Climate Directorate indicated that the average maximum temperature for the solstice period is 13.3 degrees Celsius (calculated for the last thirty years), while the average for the minimum temperature is 4.7 degrees Celsius.

The climate record also shows that the highest maximum temperature recorded at Amman Airport was 26.3 on Dec. 23 1963, and the lowest minimum temperature was -7.5 degrees Celsius on Jan. 2 1973.

Overall in the Kingdom, during the solstice period, the highest temperature recorded was 31.5 degrees Celsius on Jan. 1 1959 in Aqaba, while the lowest temperature was recorded in Al-Shobak at 14 degrees Celsius on Jan. 07 1992.

Notably, the average total rainfall that falls on the Kingdom from the beginning of the rainy season until the beginning of the winter solstice period usually constitutes 25 percent of the general seasonal average of the Kingdom.

The total rainfall witnessed this year in the northern, central-western, eastern and southwestern regions of Jordan were less than usually expected. However in the rest of the regions, the rainfall witnessed was slightly higher than the hypothetical total to date.

The average quantity of rainfall in the regions of the Kingdoms and the rates achieved during this season are as follows:

The northern regions averaged at 82.9 millimeters, achieving 21 percent of their general seasonal average.

The western-central regions averaged at 77.4 millimeters, achieving 19 percent of their general seasonal average.

The central-eastern regions averaged at 30.3 millimeters, achieving 24 percent of their general seasonal average.

The eastern regions averaged at 21.9 millimeters, achieving 24 percent of their general seasonal average.

The northern Jordan Valley averaged at 134.6 millimeters, achieving 35 percent of its general seasonal average.

The central Jordan Valley averaged at 92.6 millimeters, achieving 33 percent of its general seasonal average.

The southern Jordan Valley averaged at 12 millimeters, achieving 16 percent of its general seasonal average.

The south-western regions averaged at 30.3 millimeters, achieving 13 percent of their general seasonal average.

The southern regions averaged at 9.4 millimeters, achieving 17 percent of their general seasonal average.

Aqaba averaged at 12.9 millimeters, achieving 55 percent of its general seasonal rate.