An objective method was developed to detect local cells of the Siberian high (SH) over the Middle East, and mean sea level pressure (SLP) data from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research reanalysis dataset were used to specify the centers of local SH cells and associated ridges. The results indicated that approximately 25.8% of winter SH cells influence the Middle East, and t...

The monthly and seasonal variability and distribution of dust events over northern Saudi Arabia were studied using ground‐based measurements from 11 surface stations for the period of 1978–2010. Additionally, to study the synoptic climatology of the dust variability, the aerosol index (AI) data from the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) satellite and meteorological data from the National Center for Environmental Predicti...

The spring Sudan low and its Red Sea Trough (RST) were detected objectively using sea level pressure data obtained from a National Center for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research reanalysis dataset spanning the period from 1955 to 2014. The climatology of the detected lows suggested that the Sudan low was active for approximately 69.5% of the spring and that approximately 56.2% of this time the Sud...

The synoptic characteristics and statistical variability of seasonal dust over southwestern Saudi Arabia are studied for the period from 1979 to 2006 using the aerosol index ( AI ) from the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer ( TOMS ) satellite, dust observations from surface stations, and meteorological data from the National Center for Environmental Prediction and the National Center for Atmospheric Research ( NCEP / NCAR ) rea...