THE EXTREME weather, which saw a record high of 45.6 degrees on Sunday, has raised concerns about the state of global warming.
While this may have played a part, the short term cause is more easily identified.
Panayiotis Michael, Meteorological officer at the MET office said the hot and humid conditions were due to a mass of hot air from the Levant, which has coincided with Cyprus’ seasonal trough of low pressure, disrupting the normal upward flow of air as it is heated.
He said “The hot air mass came from the east, from Syria and Jordan and stayed in the area (above Cyprus).” This phenomenon known as ‘subsidence’ effectively traps hot humid air at the ground level that would otherwise have risen up.
Asked how long it would last, Michael said that the temperature could drop by one or two degrees by the end of the week, to around 38-40 inland, and around 33 in the mountains.
Unfortunately, the humidity is likely to remain high. “The other condition is humidity, which will stay the same.”
The reason for this, he said, is a related phenomenon called temperature inversion. The hot air mass that is passing over the slightly cooler ground level air “seals” the moisture in at the lowest atmospheric level, known as the troposphere.
Occasionally, this kind of system can lead to massive summer storms, if the lower humid air can break through to air above. Asked if such storms were possible, Michael said that this was unlikely due to the air mass’ high temperature.
The record breaking temperatures have led to speculation that this is the result of climate change. Asked if this could an underlying cause, Michael said it was not possible to say by looking at an isolated incident. “The next highest temperature was in 1956, when it reached 44.4, so it may be that Sunday was the result of a mixture (of factors).”
He added that so far the summer has been relatively mild. The long term statistics, which give a more reliable indication of the trend, are no less worrying. From 1900-1991 the average temperature in Cyprus rose from 18.9C to 19.5C. The average is now 20.2C degrees.
In other words, Cyprus warmed more in the last 20 years than it did in the previous 90, and the government has joined in an international effort to limit the increase between now and 2050 to two degrees centigrade.
A 1.3C increase in this time, which a 2007 government report, written by IA Co Water Consultants, said is a likely scenario, would be devastating for Cyprus’ ecology, leading to irreversibly desertification.
