By Steff Gaulter

As the sun beats down on us relentlessly, the rain which we saw at the beginning of May now seems like a lifetime ago. In reality it wasn’t that long ago that the rain was pouring across the Arabian Peninsula.

In the first week of the month, there was flooding Iraq and Saudi Arabia, hail stones in Doha, and plenty of thunder and lightning throughout the region. In fact there was so much rain, that people started to believe that cloud seeding in the UAE was to blame …despite the fact our weather came from the west!

Whilst it’s not that unusual to see rain in May, the length of time that the unsettled weather stayed over the region was out of the ordinary. The clouds drifted across Qatar for days, which helped to ensure the month wasn’t as hot as usual.

Doha’s average maximum temperature for May is 38.2^oC (101^oF), but this year our average day time temperature was 37^oC (99^oF). Not much of a difference perhaps, but the last two years the average has been over 40^oC (104^oF). Both years, the temperatures soared over 40^oC for days on end. At the time of writing this, temperatures in Doha had only sneaked above 40^oC twice in the entire month.

We may have dodged the bullet in May, but in June, 40^oC is about the lowest we can hope for. Last year the maximum temperature in June only stayed below 40^oC on two days of the month. The average maximum temperature is 41.2^oC (106^oF), but on some days it get much hotter than that.  

On June 18, 2012, we spiralled to the dizzy heights of 47^oC (117^oF). That’s seriously hot, and even at night it’s not exactly cold. The average night-time low is 28^oC (82^oF). Let’s hope the air conditioning doesn’t break!

If you’re planning to stay in Qatar for the whole of the summer, June is a particularly difficult month to cope with psychologically. Most of us will spend the majority of the month indoors, in the depressing knowledge that this is only the beginning of summer and the weather will only get worse over the next few months.

It’s much easier to cope with the June weather if you know you are escaping for a holiday at some point in the summer. I’m clearly a glutton for punishment though, as in the six years that I’ve been here, I’ve always stayed in Qatar during the summer.

I stay in Doha simply because people with children are desperate to leave during the school holidays. As I don’t have children, I can take leave at any time of year, but I’ve found that staying in Doha for the entire summer isn’t as bad as you might think.

For a start, the roads are much quieter; driving to work is a breeze compared to the craziness of the rest of the year. Also, by staying in Qatar for the summer, you avoid travelling in peak season, so you miss the most expensive flights.

On top of this, Doha isn’t really designed for pedestrians, so you only need to spend time outdoors if you want to. One place you might like to go is to a swimming pool, which will generally be cooled, so still usable, and the bonus is that it shouldn’t be as crowded.

The weather in June isn’t the worst weather of the year. Of course it’s hot, but at least it shouldn’t be too humid. A dry heat is always far easier to cope with than a humid one. With extra moisture in the air, your sweat cannot evaporate as easily, and this is your body’s way of regulating its temperature.

Water requires a lot of energy to evaporate, and it gets this energy from your body heat. Therefore the more your sweat evaporates, the cooler you will become. It’s the same effect if you get out of a swimming pool, the water evaporates from your skin and you feel cool. If the air is very humid and is laden with water to begin with, then water cannot evaporate into it quickly and therefore you feel hotter.

The sticky humid weather isn’t really expected to kick in until the middle of July. There may be a few humid days this month, but the majority of June should be fairly dry. A strong wind from the northwest keeps the humidity at bay. This air has spent a lot of time over the dry landscape of Iraq, so doesn’t contain much water at all. The air is so dry that it can even cause problems with dry skin and sore throats.

The northwesterly wind is often very strong and is known as the Forty Day Shamal. This wind usually picks up at the end of May and continues right the way through June and even into the beginning of July. It’s not a continuous wind, but more often than not, it will be blowing.

Sometimes it will be stronger than at other times, but we should always be grateful for its presence. As soon as it eases, that’s when we’re in trouble. Without the Shamal, the wind can blow in from the east, and it is this wind which brings our humidity. The easterly wind is laden with moisture, making the hot weather feel even more uncomfortable.

Therefore as you’re being sandblasted by the wind in June, whatever you do, don’t complain; if it stops, the humidity will arrive, and you’ll find yourself longing for the northwesterly wind again.

(The author is Senior Weather Presenter at Al Jazeera English channel. She can be contacted on steff.gaulter@yahoo.co.uk
or on Twitter at @WeatherSteff)