Spatiotemporal patterns of climate extremes and compound hazards: A case study of Saudi Arabia
4 affiliations
- 1College of Engineering, Al-Turath Universitit, Baghdad, 10013, Iraq; Corresponding authors.
- 2College of Engineering, Al-Kitab University, Kirkuk, 36015, Iraq; Corresponding authors.
- 3College of Technical Engineering, Al-Farahidi University, Baghdad, 10111, Iraq
- 4Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department, Applied Science Private University, Amman, 11937, Jordan; Corresponding authors.
Abstract
Arid regions exposed to intensifying anthropogenic warming face accelerating climate extremes whose co-occurrence remains poorly characterised at the city scale. This study assessed temperature extremes, precipitation extremes and compound heat hazards at five major Saudi Arabian cities, Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, Makkah, and Madinah, from 1981 to 2022. Daily maximum and minimum temperatures came from quality-controlled records of the Global Summary of the Day (GSOD), and daily precipitation came from the Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station data (CHIRPS) at each station grid cell. Ten Expert Team on Climate Change Detection and Indices (ETCCDI) and Standardised Precipitation Index (SPI) indicators underwent testing with the Mann–Kendall (MK) test, a variance correction for serial dependence, Sen's slope and false discovery rate (FDR) control. Cold-night frequency (TN10p) fell at all five stations by 3.1 to 4.9 % decade⁻¹, and annual mean minimum temperature rose by 0.51 to 0.95°C decade⁻¹. Annual maximum temperature (TXx) rose by 0.31 to 0.74°C decade⁻¹ at four stations, with the fastest rate at Makkah, while the Jeddah trend did not reach the 5 % level. Warm-day frequency (TX90p) increased by 2.0 to 4.3 % decade⁻¹ at the same four stations. Precipitation indices showed no coherent trend, and only Makkah recorded a wetting signal. Compound heatwave and drought days remained infrequent, with a Compound Hazard Index (CHI) of 0.09 to 0.15, and heatwave and extreme-precipitation coincidences occurred on only 4 days in the full record.
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BibTeX
@article{alkhawlani2026spatiotemporal,
title = {{Spatiotemporal patterns of climate extremes and compound hazards: A case study of Saudi Arabia}},
author = {Q. Alkhawlani and Sameer Algburi and Salah Sabeeh and Otabeh Al-Oran and Mansour Almazroui},
journal = {Environmental Challenges},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1016/j.envc.2026.101690},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envc.2026.101690},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Spatiotemporal patterns of climate extremes and compound hazards: A case study of Saudi Arabia
AU - Q. Alkhawlani
AU - Sameer Algburi
AU - Salah Sabeeh
AU - Otabeh Al-Oran
AU - Mansour Almazroui
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/30
JO - Environmental Challenges
DO - 10.1016/j.envc.2026.101690
UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envc.2026.101690
AB - Arid regions exposed to intensifying anthropogenic warming face accelerating climate extremes whose co-occurrence remains poorly characterised at the city scale. This study assessed temperature extremes, precipitation extremes and compound heat hazards at five major Saudi Arabian cities, Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, Makkah, and Madinah, from 1981 to 2022. Daily maximum and minimum temperatures came from quality-controlled records of the Global Summary of the Day (GSOD), and daily precipitation came from the Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station data (CHIRPS) at each station grid cell. Ten Expert Team on Climate Change Detection and Indices (ETCCDI) and Standardised Precipitation Index (SPI) indicators underwent testing with the Mann–Kendall (MK) test, a variance correction for serial dependence, Sen's slope and false discovery rate (FDR) control. Cold-night frequency (TN10p) fell at all five stations by 3.1 to 4.9 % decade⁻¹, and annual mean minimum temperature rose by 0.51 to 0.95°C decade⁻¹. Annual maximum temperature (TXx) rose by 0.31 to 0.74°C decade⁻¹ at four stations, with the fastest rate at Makkah, while the Jeddah trend did not reach the 5 % level. Warm-day frequency (TX90p) increased by 2.0 to 4.3 % decade⁻¹ at the same four stations. Precipitation indices showed no coherent trend, and only Makkah recorded a wetting signal. Compound heatwave and drought days remained infrequent, with a Compound Hazard Index (CHI) of 0.09 to 0.15, and heatwave and extreme-precipitation coincidences occurred on only 4 days in the full record.
SN - 2667-0100
ER -