Below-average rainfall expected across Iraq
Shafaq News – Baghdad
Iraq is bracing for a weak start to this year’s rainy season, with below-average rainfall expected across most regions and only limited improvement in the north, meteorologist Sadiq Atiya told Shafaq News on Tuesday.
The country’s rainy season, which typically begins in mid-October, is divided into two phases: the first lasting until December 1, and the second running from early December through early March.
Atiya foresees that rainfall may gradually increase after December, but totals are expected to remain near or slightly below the long-term average, “with no signs of a particularly wet season.”
Iraq’s General Authority for Meteorology and Seismic Monitoring attributed the lack of rain so far to five main factors: the dominance of the subtropical high-pressure system, the absence of Mediterranean low-pressure fronts, persistent surface heat, weak upper-level humidity, and transitional seasonal conditions that typically bring stable weather.
The country continues to grapple with an intensifying drought, driven by declining rainfall in recent years linked to climate change, and compounded by reduced water flows in the Tigris and Euphrates rivers due to dam construction and water management policies in neighboring Turkiye and Iran.
Read more: From drought to saltwater: Iraq's deepening water crisis
