As Sweihan swelters, what is causing the record high temperatures in the UAE?

The National

27-05-2025

The UAE is experiencing record breaking heat this month, with residents facing temperatures in excess of 50°C, according to the National Centre of Meteorology. Sweltering heat recorded in Sweihan recently at 51.6°C has smashed the record for the highest temperature in the month of May in the UAE, which was reported the previous day when it reached 50.4°C in Abu Dhabi emirate. Before then, the peak for the month was 50.2°C in 2009. The National Centre of Meteorology has in recent days reminded the public to drink lots of fluids, avoid direct exposure to the sun, ensure children are not left in cars and also to make sure pets have plenty to drink. Here, we look at the record temperatures and consider what factors could be behind them. Saturday was the second record-breaking day in a row, with the UAE having past its all-time record for May on Friday, when a temperature of 50.4°C was reached in Abu Dhabi. The extreme temperatures are more akin to what might be expected at the height of summer, which does not officially begin until June 21. Saturday's record was barely shy of the highest reported temperature for any time of year since records began more than two decades ago. That peak was set in Al Yasat Island in Abu Dhabi emirate in 2010, when thermometers reached a sizzling 52°C. This month's record temperatures come hot on the heels of the UAE recording its warmest April, with the average high last month being 42.6°C. 'The new thing about these conditions is that they are happening really too early, before even the official start of the summer season. The second element is how extreme they are compared to the record,' said Dr Diana Francis, an assistant professor and head of the Environmental and Geophysical Sciences (Engeos) lab at Khalifa University. Climate change may be playing a role in both the UAE's record temperatures as well as the region's escalating weather, especially given that previous research has indicated the gulf is heating up especially quickly. Campaign group Greenpeace MENA is drawing awareness to the issue, after temperatures in Kuwait remained close to 50°C throughout the week, Morocco issued an official heatwave alert for several provinces, and Iraq and Egypt grappled with an intense increase in temperature. "These conditions are no longer rare; they are the new normal in a region heating at nearly twice the global average. These extreme temperatures have arrived earlier than ever, as Hajj season is about to start," said regional campaigns lead, Kenzie Azmi. "Even though our region is not historically responsible for the problem, we are among those suffering the most." In 2022, Greenpeace published a report, Living on the Edge: The Implications of Climate Change for Six Countries in the Middle East and North Africa Region, which stated temperatures were 'warming nearly twice as fast as the global average'. At the time the report was released, Kathryn Miller, a science consultant for Greenpeace Research Laboratories, said that, while there was 'considerable variability in weather patterns year on year', a trend had become evident in the Mena region. 'It's now clear that the region as a whole is warming fast, with an accelerated rate of 0.4°C per decade since the 1980s,' she said. Climate analysts in the UAE have said this year that summer in the country now lasts about 10 days longer than it used to. It is forecast in future to last for about half the year. 'What we are seeing is in line with our findings showing longer summers to be expected under global warming,' Dr Francis said. 'This shift in season duration can be exacerbated by a short heatwave induced by changes to the general circulation due to global warming. 'We have to wait and see if what we are witnessing currently in the UAE is a heatwave on top of the increase in global average temperatures due to excessive greenhouse gases.' A climatic effect called the Arabian Heat Low, typically experienced in summer, is partly responsible for the ultra-high temperatures in Sweihan, Dr Francis said. She said the ending in 2024 of El Nino, a warm period caused by changes to water circulation in the Pacific Ocean, had brought 'the level of rain in the UAE to almost zero in 2025'. 'With dry soil during the whole spring, like in the case of Sweihan, the development of the summer weather feature responsible for heat, called the Arabian Heat Low, came early this year,' she said. 'It is now well developed and in intensity resembles an AHL of a July month, not May, hence the temperatures are resembling July, too.' Sweihan is no stranger to extreme heat, with the town having recorded a sweltering temperature of 51.8°C in June 2021. In response to the conditions, one long-time resident, Syrian citizen Tareef Otham, told The National at the time that being outside 'felt like I was inside an oven'. Being inland is one reason why Sweihan is especially likely to face extremes of temperature. Land heats up faster than the sea, so being further from the coast means that the Arabian Gulf has less of a moderating influence on the temperature. Coastal cities tend to be marginally cooler than those inland, although they can be more uncomfortable because of higher levels of humidity. By contrast, during the winter, inland areas are often cooler than coastal regions, because the sea is typically warmer than the land during colder times of the year, as it has not cooled down so fast. While Sweihan has been facing temperatures that are very hot even for the Gulf region, the peaks remain significantly short of world beating. The highest temperature recorded on Earth was 56.7°C in Death Valley in the US on July 10, 1913, according to Guinness World Records. It states that some climatologists 'have cast doubt' on this result, although it remains the official record. In recent years, temperatures of 54.4°C have been recorded twice at the Furnace Creek Visitor Centre in Death Valley. A temperature of 58°C was recorded in Al Azizia in Libya in 1922, although that result was discredited by the World Meteorological Organisation in 2012. It said the figure may have been inflated because, for example, it was recorded near an asphalt-like surface that heats up faster than the desert soil.