Cars move along a rain-soaked street in Sulaymaniyah on Saturday as the city experiences the first rainfall of the season. Photo by 964media.
First winter rain and mountain snow bring cautious relief to drought-hit Iraq
BAGHDAD — Iraq recorded its first rainfall of the winter season on Saturday, with showers spreading across much of the country and heavier precipitation in the Kurdistan Region, where mountainous areas in Erbil, Duhok, and Sulaymaniyah saw the season’s first snowfall.
Baghdad received its first winter rain as temperatures continued to fall. Several governorates reported lingering morning showers on Sunday as the storm system pushed eastward.
The forecasting department at the Iraqi General Authority for Meteorology said satellite images showed “a wide cloud cover spreading over most areas of Iraq,” driven by an upper-level low-pressure system moving in from the eastern Mediterranean and “moist air pushed from the Red Sea.” It said warm moisture flowing north and colliding with colder Mediterranean air helped strengthen convective clouds, increasing rainfall intensity in many regions.
The authority issued a multi-day outlook calling for continued rain, fog, and falling temperatures. On Sunday, northern and central areas are expected to see partly cloudy to cloudy skies with moderate rain, intensifying over the mountains and becoming thunderous in places. Winds will be southeasterly at 10–20 km/h, with visibility between 8–10 km and 5–7 km during rainfall.
Forecast highs for Sunday include 17°C in Nineveh, 18°C in Sulaymaniyah and Duhok, 19°C in Erbil, 20°C in Kirkuk, and 26°C in Baghdad. Southern governorates are expected to reach 28–29°C.
On Monday, clear to partly cloudy skies are expected with morning fog, except in northeastern areas where clouds and moderate rain will continue. Tuesday is forecast to bring partly cloudy skies in the central and northern regions and clear weather in the south, with fog early in the day. Temperatures will remain stable in central Iraq, fall slightly in the south, and rise slightly in the north. By Wednesday, skies will be mostly clear with passing clouds as temperatures rise in the central and northern regions.
The Ministry of Water Resources said it will work to direct the rainfall into storage to help rebuild reserves after years of severe drought.
In Sulaymaniyah, electricity officials said maintenance teams were responding to outages caused by rain-related electrical shorts. A worker was injured during repairs in Raniya after a short occurred on one of the feeders. Crews continued repairs Sunday as outages persisted in several neighborhoods.
Rainfall totals varied widely across Iraq and the Kurdistan Region. Early measurements showed 28.5 mm in Koya, 29 mm in parts of Erbil’s countryside, 26.6 mm in areas of Sulaymaniyah, and more than 20 mm across sections of Duhok. In federal Iraq, amounts ranged from light traces in the south to more than 17–18 mm in parts of Diyala and around 10 mm in areas of Baghdad and Kirkuk. Meteorologists said the totals align with typical early-season patterns.
The rain comes as Iraq faces its worst drought in eight decades, with water reserves at historic lows. Last week, residents in several governorates gathered for Salat al-Istisqa, the traditional prayer for rain. Worshippers in Tikrit, Ramadi, and Altun Kupri asked for relief from shortages that have strained farming, livestock, and daily life.
“We asked God to bless us with rain and lift this hardship from our nation,” said Mohammed Al-Habbous of the Sunni Endowment Office in Salah Al-Din.