UAE officially enters the winter season

The astronomical winter season officially began in the United Arab Emirates on 21 December and will last until 20 March. Thus, the end of winter next year will coincide with the holy month of Ramadan.

During the winter days, the Earth, moving along its elliptical orbit, will be in perihelion, that is, at the closest distance from the Sun – 147 million kilometres. In aphelion, the furthest point of the orbit from the Sun, at a distance of 152 million kilometres, the Earth is when it is summer in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere, it is winter. Therefore, it is impossible to explain the change of seasons by the fact that the Earth is closer to the Sun in summer than in winter.

The Earth’s axis of rotation is inclined to the plane of the equator, the angle of inclination is 23.5 degrees. Due to the fact that the direction of the axis of rotation remains constant all the time, the Earth moves around the Sun ‘barrel’, differently exposing the sun’s rays to its surface at different parts of the orbit, that is, at different times of the year. Therefore, in summer in the Northern Hemisphere, the Sun rises above the horizon much higher than in winter.

And the angle of incidence of the sun’s rays determines how strongly they are reflected from the Earth’s surface and how strongly they are absorbed. The more sunlight the surface absorbs, the more it heats up. If the angle of incidence is small (in winter), the sun’s rays are reflected much more strongly and absorbed much less and the Earth becomes colder.

In the United Arab Emirates, winters are usually mild, with outside temperatures hovering around 25°C during the day, 12°C to 15°C at night in coastal areas, and temperatures can drop to 5°C in inland areas. In the mountains, such as the highest point in the UAE, the Jebel Jais peak, it even snows in the winter season. The highest amount of precipitation usually falls in February.

Source: Khaleej Times