MONTHLY WEATHER SUMMARY – APRIL 2016

The month of April 2016 was warmer than normal with temperatures below average relative humidities and wind speed.

The mean temperature of the month was 26.5°C. which is 1.5°C above the long-term normal. Meanwhile, the mean maximum temperature of the month was 31.5°C and the highest temperature recorded during the month was 39.2°C which was on the 26th of April due to warm westerly winds which dominated during that morning.

The mean minimum temperature of the month was 23.0°C and the lowest temperature recorded during the month was 17.9°C which was on the 3rd ofApril at Bahrain International Airport – a temperature of 14.2°C was recorded on the same night at Durrat Al Bahrain.

The mean relative humidity for April was 49% and the mean maximum relative humidity for the month was 71% and the mean minimum relative humidity was 26%. 

It is worth nothing that unsettled weather conditions normally occur at this time of the year which is locally known as (Al-Sarrayat) and extends up to mid-May due to fast movements of the upper troughs from the Mediterranean towards the Arabian Peninsula and the Gulf which produce thundery showers and gusty winds over the area and are associated with dust or sandstorms at times.

On the 14^th of April, an upper trough extended over the central parts of Saudi Arabia which resulted in unsettled weather conditions which was associated with thundery showers over the Kingdom of Bahrain with trace amount of precipitation recorded in Bahrain International Airport and gust reaching 31 knots. A total of 6.0 mm of precipitation was recorded in Durrat Al Bahrain with gust reaching35 knots and 7.2 mm of precipitation in Sitra Island.

The moth of April had three rainy days which accumulated 1.9 mm in Bahrain International Airport. Trace amount were recorded on the 7^th, 14^th and 30^th of April. The long-term mean precipitation total for April is 10.0 mm. The highest monthly rainfall ever recorded for April was 69.9 mm which occurred in April 1961. 

The total precipitation for April in Durrat Al Bahrain was 13.0 mm, 11.0 mm in Sitra Island, and 2.6 mm in King Fahad Causeway. 

Westerly to Northerly winds accounted for 42%, and 28% of the wind observed was prevailing from southeasterly to southerly direction with gusts reaching 34 knots on the 13^th of April at Bahrain International Airport and 38 knots at King Fahd Causeway on the 12^th of April. 

Dust haze was reported on the 14^th of April with visibility dropping to 3000 meters at Bahrain International Airport.