AL-HASA: Searing heat in Al-Hasa has thrust mercury around the 50-degree Celsius mark and slowing construction, business and tourism in the historic city.
“June, July and August are always a disaster,” said retired Commodore Abdulateef Al-Mulhim, a popular writer and columnist.
“Al-Hasa is an oasis that lies in the middle of nowhere. Since Al-Hasa lies somewhat in the middle of Riyadh and Dammam, it has taken the harshness of Riyadh weather and the humidity of Dammam region. It is a very difficult combination.”
Business establishments and construction companies have asked their employees to take adequate precautions in the face of blistering heat and many have reduced work hours to help workers cope.
A weather office spokesman told Arab News that the temperature in Al-Hasa after Friday prayer was around 46 degrees Celsius. “Friday is better than Thursday,” he said. “We recorded 48 degrees Celsius on Thursday, and it was worse on Tuesday and Wednesday.”
Al-Hasa is located about 60 km inland from the Arabian Gulf. It is about 300 km from Riyadh and around 140 km from Dammam.
The world's largest oil field, Al-Ghawar, is located in this region. Since it is an oasis, it is very green and has fertile land running into thousands of hectares with more than 30,000 farms producing fruits and vegetables.
More importantly, it has 2 million palm trees, and the region produces 21,000 tons of dates every year. Among the most popular of the more than 300 date varieties are khlas, shaishi and sukkari. Growers are not groaning about the temperature.
“This weather is extreme for you and me, but this is essential for the ripening of dates,” said Muhammad Asghar Abid, a longtime Pakistani resident of Al-Hasa.
“If the weather is not this harsh then the dates will not come to fruition,” he said. “I have been here for the last 25 years, and weather will only get worse before it will get better.” The weather, he says, will become bearable only in September, long after Ramadan.
Syed Luqman Noman, a sales executive at a newspaper distribution company, feels the weather is particularly harsh this year. “Some of my friends who keep commuting between Dammam and Al-Hasa say the highways are oozing lava. You can actually smell the burning of tires as they kiss and scratch the roads at high speeds,” he said.
To make matters worse, the days are longer. The sun is out at 4:40 a.m. and sets around 6:40 p.m. “You can actually feel the heat in the walls. And the temperature remains constant throughout the day. The walls get slightly cooler for a few hours at night, and then the sun rises again.”
Arab News saw dozens of cars sidelined on the Dammam-Al-Hasa highway on Friday afternoon to cool their radiators. They kept on adding coolants to bring the car temperatures down. Such was the heat, the air-conditioning was not up to the task.
Dammam and Alkhobar are similarly searing. Saudi nationals and expatriates are waiting for their annual vacations to move on to cooler climes. “We plan to head to India with the family and children once the schools are over sometime next week,” said IT expert Munawwar Hassan Farooqui. “It is monsoon time in India, and the kids are excited.”
Meanwhile, they are having a tough time commuting to school. “They are exhausted by the time they get home. The vans that take them to school are not cool enough; their ACs do not function at all,” he said.
As the evening wears on, people of Al-Hasa head for the picturesque and pristine Al-Uqair beach. “That is a fine beach and a lot of families try to spend their weekends there,” said Al-Mulhim.
“Many others simply spend their weekends at the hundreds of date farms that dot the Al-Hasa region. It is nothing less than heavenly at those farms. Spending time in the thick shades of the massive date palms is indescribable,” he said. “I must add that many Saudi employers have been very kind to their employees having reduced their work hours, especially those working at construction sites.”
