# I predict



## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

We see the start of the Khamseens today. I have just been for a walk down to the opera house and it felt so hot and muggy really oppressive. Sand storm season starting?


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## MensEtManus (Jul 30, 2009)

I predict:
- increased unemployment
- increased religious tensions
- starvation... 
- Food revolution/riot


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## Sonrisa (Sep 2, 2010)

Starting???  I thought we just had got over the sand storm season?

(hurries off to shut balcony and windows) :mmph:


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

Sonrisa said:


> Starting???  I thought we just had got over the sand storm season?
> 
> (hurries off to shut balcony and windows) :mmph:




The sandstorm season is usually April/May although we seem to have them the whole year round now, I was struggling to see Zamalek 20 minutes ago but it is a bit clearer now.


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## Whiskey96 (Jun 6, 2010)

Khamsin... 50 days during which you are liable to experience high winds/ perhaps sandstorms.... usually between mid-February - end of April... 50 days.....


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## Horus (Sep 17, 2010)

Muggy weather here today with some limited visability and haze.

I predict locusts and the 7 horsemen of the acopalypse


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## Widget (Jan 22, 2011)

Horus said:


> Muggy weather here today with some limited visability and haze.


Horus that's the understatement of the year, the heat hit like a ton of bricks as I walked outside and I could barely see the mountains for sand/dust as we were coming into land!


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## Widget (Jan 22, 2011)

Horus said:


> Muggy weather here today with some limited visability and haze.


Horus that's the understatement of the year, I could barely see the mountains as we were coming into land, and the heat hit like a ton of bricks, phewee!

But it's great to be back


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## Whiskey96 (Jun 6, 2010)

Horus, that is the OVERstatement of the year.... there are only FOUR of them..


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

Whiskey96 said:


> Khamsin... 50 days during which you are liable to experience high winds/ perhaps sandstorms.... usually between mid-February - end of April... 50 days.....




Every google page will tell you a different date I have just found one saying from February to June... I have found over the years that April is the most prominent month for the winds.


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

Today, one of the nastiest Khamseen in years is blowing through Cairo. My balcony is covered in dust, and the old doors and windows of my 1940s apartment are letting the fine red sand carried by the wind blow in, covering everything in the house with a thin sliver of dust. Your mouth feels dry and mealy, your nose congested, and their a vaguely rancid odor of hanging in the air.

The above picture, taken from the balcony at Arabist HQ (at an undisclosed location in Garden City) shows that you barely see the outline of the tall buildings in the distance, such as the new Four Seasons hotel. In fact, you barely see across the road.

Seeing all of this made me think about finding out more about the khamseen. Wikipedia informs us the term can be used generically, and is used commonly in at least Egypt and Israel:

Hamsin (from Arabic:خمسين, khamsīn or khamseen) is a Middle Eastern term for the dry, hot wind that blows in from the desert. It can refer to the wind that blows from the Sahara across Egypt in the spring, typically from March through May; or in Israel, for the easterly wind that brings dust from the Arabian desert to cities and oppressive pressure on the people.
I found this explanation rather unsatisfactory and turned to Cassandra Vivian's The Western Desert of Egypt, the ultimate guide to Egypt's main desert. It has a short chapter on Saharan winds, describing the possible variants:

In the spring, from March to May comes the special sandstorm, the khamasin, (the 50). The season lasts for 50 days, and most storms are a few days in duration. Called siroccos in Morocco, qibli in Libya, cheheli in the northern Sahara, irifi along the coast and ouahdy in the central Sahara, the storms of North Africa each have their own special personality. Some, like the khamasin, are hot winds, others cold winds, but all are laden with sand and dust. The khamasin blows from the south to the northwest, in opposition to the prevailing winds. The harmattan in West Africa is a cold northeasterly wind that blows in November through February. The simum, 'poison wind,' is hot and dry and temperatures reach 55C or 130F. The habub is hot and moist and is prevalent along the southern edges of the Sahara and in Sudan. It carried sandstorms and duststorms, but can be the harbinger of thunderstorms and small tornadoes. With each storm lasting about three hours, the habub is mostly a summer affair. Its wall of sand and dust can be as high as 900 meters (3,000 feet).


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

I had a better photo than the one below but can't find it.
It was taken from my window a couple of years ago and it was just a yellow haze you could see nothing other than the haze. 
Strangely enough I didn't taste yesterdays storm but I had the usual nosebleed that come with it.


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## Whiskey96 (Jun 6, 2010)

Here's one taken (by my passenger, as you should be able to deduce....) while
returning from Sinai a couple of years ago.....
Not a lot slows down a dedicated Micro-bus driver.....


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## hurghadapat (Mar 26, 2010)

MaidenScotland said:


> I had a better photo than the one below but can't find it.
> It was taken from my window a couple of years ago and it was just a yellow haze you could see nothing other than the haze.
> Strangely enough I didn't taste yesterdays storm but I had the usual nosebleed that come with it.


It also carries with it a lot of air borne diseases as well.


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## canuck2010 (Jan 13, 2010)

I knew there was a reason I brought all that weatherstripping tape for the windows from Canada, no sand here.


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## Whiskey96 (Jun 6, 2010)

canuck2010 said:


> I knew there was a reason I brought all that weatherstripping tape for the windows from Canada, no sand here.


Believe it or not, you can get weatherproofing/ draughtproofing materials 
here too....


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

hurghadapat said:


> It also carries with it a lot of air borne diseases as well.




Yes I usually end up with a sore throat too, alas it is not just sand that blows


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## Eco-Mariner (Jan 26, 2011)

UK gets the rain and snow...:rain: America tornados....:scared: and Australia floods and fires.. :smow: :flame: Indonesia monsoons... :help: and on the Ring of Fire earthquakes and sunamis.... ::bolt:


Why complain over a little dust ? :ranger:



Alan.


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

Eco-Mariner said:


> UK gets the rain and snow...:rain: America tornados....:scared: and Australia floods and fires.. :smow: :flame: Indonesia monsoons... :help: and on the Ring of Fire earthquakes and sunamis.... ::bolt:
> 
> 
> Why complain over a little dust ? :ranger:
> ...




cos we can.


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## Eco-Mariner (Jan 26, 2011)

But you're off out of it soon....


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

Eco-Mariner said:


> But you're off out of it soon....



but I am still here and yet again there is a sandstorm blowing now... April is without doubt the time for them.


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## DeadGuy (Jan 22, 2010)

I'm not sure if I'd be right about this or not, but the name _"Kamaseen"_ kinda matches the Coptic fasting thing that lasts 55 days before Easter in here?! (Not 100% sure it lasts 55 days, but I know it's a LONG time!!!), so it should kinda start like 2 months before Easter.........

It's all related to the "Coptic calender" thing I think, the ancient Egyptian folks were really good (Scary actually!) when it comes to astronomy!! 

Anyway! Forget the bloody dust and the unstable weather! Happy Easter folks!


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