The cities that dot the Kingdom’s eastern coastline are experiencing extremely harsh weather this summer. Nighttime temperatures are hovering between 35 and 40 degrees Celsius. Daytime temperatures are unbearable with mercury routinely touching 45 degrees Celsius. Another 40 days are to go before the onset of autumn because summer officially begins on June 21 and ends on Sept. 21.

“What has made things worse is the high level of humidity; it is 85 percent these days, and that is the maximum,” said Mohammad Ehab, a meteorologist at the Dammam office of the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment.

“We will see weather reaching comfortable levels in the middle of next month. Until that time, the climate will remain harsh,” said Ehab.

“My ideal advice to people during regular months would be to drink lot of water. Well, since we are in Ramadan, our advice would be to avoid going out into the sun during the 9 a.m.-3 p.m. time frame,” he said. “Try to accomplish your daily chores in the evenings or during early morning hours.”

Ehab agreed that the weather was depressing. “Humidity is the killing factor. Even when the temperatures are not very high it is the humidity that makes the weather unbearable. The air, heavy as it is with moisture, makes breathing difficult,” he said.

According to him, the whole world is undergoing a change in weather pattern. “Look at the floods in Pakistan and China. It has become very unpredictable.”

He said temperatures in Riyadh, Madinah and Makkah have also shot up. “But they don’t have humidity, so it doesn’t feel that much worse,” he said.

Ehab, who himself returned from vacation in London on Monday, said: “The moment I landed at Dammam airport it was like some kind of a sauna feeling. The draft of hot air that hit my face was not a pretty experience.”

Ehab calls it an irony that while in London the temperatures were 30 degrees Celsius and everybody was complaining about the weather and talking about air-conditioning, “here we are experiencing 40 degrees Celsius and plus temperatures.”

Mahmud Zakavat, an ENT specialist at a government hospital in Dammam, said there was a considerably large number of people complaining of breathing difficulties seeking treatment at his hospital on Wednesday. “Most of them were either children or elderly people. Many of them had to be put on nebulizers to ease their breathing,” he told Arab News. “In extreme weather such cases are to be expected — especially those who are asthmatic.”

On the first day of Ramadan, the well-kept beaches of Dammam, Alkhobar and Jubail, which are the first places of choice for the faithful to break their fast with their family and friends, were empty. There was not much activity.

“The moment I got down to pick up some iftar items from a roadside joint, I saw my glasses covered in mist because of the difference in temperature inside the car and outside. I didn’t realize what happened in that blinding moment,” said Abdul Imran Malik, an elderly civil engineer. “The Eastern Province is like this during the summers. This is not unusual.”

“People prefer to stay indoors,” said Almas Akhtar, a Pakistani mother of three. “Who would want to go outside in this weather? There are only few places where you can feel comfortable, in restaurants, mosques or shopping malls. I feel sorry for the children. They are having vacations, and they just can’t go outdoors.”