Study of the relationship between African ITCZ variability and an extreme heat wave on Egypt in summer 2015

An extreme heat wave hit Egypt in summer 2015. Abnormal hot weather conditions existed over Egypt for the entire summer season. The present paper investigates the relationship between the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) over Africa and a scorching heat wave that existed over Egypt in summer 2015. The National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP/NCAR) reanalysis data of mean surface air temperature for the domain of Egypt for the summer season from 1948 to 2015 were used in this study. In addition, data of the daily maximum and daily minimum temperature used for the summer season of the year 2015 were also used. Time cross-section analysis of the daily operational data of geopotential height at level 500 hPa over Egypt from 1 June to 31 August 2015 was done. Moreover, the African ITCZ, both the western and the eastern ITCZ, data for summer of 2015 were used for the said period. The time series, time cross-section, anomaly, and correlation coefficient techniques were used to analyze the datasets. The results revealed that a new climate change record of heat wave over Egypt existed in summer 2015. Moreover, there is an outstanding significant positive correlation between the abrupt shift of African ITCZ position and heat wave occurrence over Egypt in summer 2015. In particular, the southerly movement of the eastern African ITCZ controls the weather over Egypt and led to the extreme heat wave in summer 2015.