Khaberni - Bilad al-Sham including Jordan witnessed a succession of depressions, thanks be to God, which contributed to the abundant rainfall; meanwhile, snow was absent from most of the highlands of the kingdom except for the southern peaks (Jabal Al Sharah). What caused this phenomenon?
The primary reason for this occurrence relates to how the cold air masses move from the north over the Mediterranean Sea, where during the past few weeks, the cold air mass advanced along the axis of western Turkey and the surroundings of Crete Island, coinciding with a disruption in the flow of coldness from the north while it moved east towards Bilad al-Sham and Jordan. As these masses traverse long distances over the sea waters, especially when they are relatively warm as they are now at about 18-20 degrees Celsius, the lower layers of air begin to significantly gain heat and moisture from the sea surface. This leads to an increase in the temperature of the layer close to the surface to values typically ranging between 2 and 6 degrees Celsius, which are temperatures insufficient to sustain snowfall, according to Arabia Weather.
During this long traverse of the cold air mass over the waters, the moisture in the lower layers rises to saturated levels, which allows for the formation of dense stratiform clouds accompanied by heavy and continuous rainfall during the weather event. However, this high moisture does not contribute to the cooling of the surface air. On the contrary, it increases rain production at the expense of snow, since the snow formed in the higher layers melts immediately upon entering the warmer layers near the surface. This means that the coldness in the middle and upper layers alone was not sufficient to counteract the continued heating coming from the sea.
In addition, the cold influx coming from the north of the European continent was not strong or sustained enough to compensate for the lower heating resulting from the sea, leading to the cold masses losing their lower characteristics over time. As a result of these factors combined, the quantities of rain increased due to the significant moisture and the strong weather disturbance, while the snow disappeared because of the warmth of the lower layers.
