Al-Bawarih ‘البوارح’ Winds on Subiya Lagoon

Summer season kitesurfing in Kuwait and the hot-blow winds

Yaqoub Nasrallah hanging around Subiya Lagoon, June 27th 2020

By the end of May, Kuwait health authorities lifted the full lockdown, and adjusted the COVID-19 precautions to partial curfew that allows people mobility and traveling within the country. The lifting of the lockdown came in time with the change in seasons in Kuwait and the beginning of Al-Bawarih season, ‘موسم البوارح,’ starting from beginning of June and lasting through end of July.

Since the lift of the lockdown, I got the chance to kitesurf Al-Bawarih wind on multiple spots in Kuwait, between south shores on Dubaiya, Bnaider, and Khiran, and north shore on Subiya Lagoon.

Al-Bawarih season known locally as the season where the dry-hot-air wind blow from the Northwest. According to the local astronomer Adel Almarzouq, the name Al-Bawarih season is recognized locally by people living in Northeast part of Arabian peninsula, including Kuwait, South of Iraq, Qatar, Najd and Eastern Province in Saudi Arabia. the meaning of the name in Arabic comes from the word departure, in reference to the movement of certain stars during this time of the year. Yet he mentions that in earlier times, during this season ships stop sailing, and usually it’s the two months of the year that all sailing and diving activities stop. The wind in Al-Bawarih season is also called Al-Semoum, ‘السموم,’ which translates in English to the poisonous wind. Al-Semoum wind travels through the deserts of Mesopotamia before reaching Kuwait, increasing its chances to carry the desert’s sand and creating sandstorms. During Al-Bawarih season the Al-Semoum winds could blow over 25 knots.

Mesopotamia Northwest Wind, wind forecast July 16 2020, Windfinder.com

The meteorology writer on Arabiaweather.com Areej Aldihani explained Al-Bawarih wind is generated from the decrease in air pressure over the Arabian peninsula due to the significant increase in temperatures, and the increase in air pressure over the Mediterranean, as a result the wind blows from the north to the south.

Subiya Lagoon location on the Northwest corner of the Persian Gulf, gives it the chance to be the first water surface Al-Bawarih wind reaches after traveling through the hot deserts. And by observing the wind forecast during the past 3 years, it seemed the Northwest in Kuwait wind relatively blows more knots on Subiya lagoon versus the rest of Kuwait shore. Since Summer 2019, we started to explore the Subiya Lagoon for kitesurfing and on average, during Al-Bawarih season, we are able to kite 2 to 3 days a week, versus 1 or 2 days a week on beaches south of Kuwait City.

Northwest wind blows relatively more over North shores in Kuwait. Subiya Lagoon North of Kuwait City. Forecast July 16 2020, Windfinder.com

Since the lifting of the lockdown early in June, the kitesurfing community have been active on Subiya Lagoon, and in fact the local kitesurfing instructor Yaqoub Nasrallah from Kiteboardking Kuwait school started giving lessons on the lagoon, and 2 students already started riding on the lagoon. Moreover, Yaqoub recorded about 13.3m jump while I got highest jump 11.6m. I hope for Al-Bawarih to bring us more windy days to keep sending it.