RIYADH — The Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture revealed that the average rainfall in all regions of Saudi Arabia during the month of January reached a record level of 23.58 millimeters (mm), which is the highest ever received over the last 40 years. It is also higher than the average recorded for the same month in 2022, which amounted to 15.41 millimeters, according to the records of the ministry's hydrological monitoring stations. The ministry said this in its report related to monitoring the amounts of precipitation and the volume of incoming and outgoing torrential waters from dams in the regions of the Kingdom during January 2023. The report indicated that the number of rain readings recorded at the stations under the ministry and the National Center of Meteorology (NCM) during January reached 1980 readings, while the Jeddah port station in the Makkah region recorded the highest rainfall reading, amounting to 84.6 mm, on the first day of January. The report showed that the total harvest of water from the torrents that reached the dams in January amounted to about 182.7 million cubic meters, while the total volume of water released from them amounted to 108.9 million cubic meters. The ministry stated that the dams in the Makkah region had the largest share of the incoming torrential waters, as their volume exceeded 70.9 million cubic meters. The Rabigh Dam in the Makkah region witnessed the highest amount of incoming torrents with approximately 48.7 million cubic meters, while the Turbah Dam recorded the highest release of 15.2. million cubic meters.
