Why are sandstorms becoming more common in the Middle East?

Sandstorms have engulfed the Middle East from Saudi Arabia to Iraq and from Kuwait to Iran, causing flight delays, school closures and thousands of people being hospitalized with difficulty breathing.

Experts warn that climate change could worsen, which could lead to unpleasant weather events in the coming years.

As many as 1,285 people were hospitalized in Riyadh in a single day as a result of a sandstorm in Saudi Arabia that left them with respiratory problems.

Iraq has also been hit by severe sandstorms this week. Its eighth sandstorm since mid-April came on Monday. At least 4,000 people were being treated in hospitals for respiratory problems and airports, schools and public offices across the country were closed.

Although the exact causes of sand or dust storms are not yet fully known to scientists, many experts have linked such storms to deforestation and desertification of regions.

“Sand and dust storms often start in countries where the number of vegetation is very limited and there are few barriers to strong winds,” said Violet Kenosha, a scholar in the Middle East Institute’s Iran program. That is why Kuwait has been hit by sandstorms for more than three months of the year. In Kuwait, dust storms can reach speeds of 93-109 kilometres per hour, which reduces the visibility to almost zero.
During the same year, sandstorms occurred 5.6% in Bahrain, 7.1% in Qatar and 3.9% in Abu Dhabi.

Experts in the region, who have been monitoring sand and mud storms for years, say the number of hurricanes has increased in countries such as Iran and Iraq where water resources have been mismanaged and rivers have dried up.

Enrique Teradellas, a meteorologist at the World Meteorological Organization’s Sandstorm Forecasting Center, told the BBC that the rising number of sandstorms was directly linked to declining river flows in Iraq and Iran.

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