With the beginning of 2026, Lebanon is hit by a strong weather depression, characterized by strong winds and heavy rains accompanied by thunderstorms, lightning, and floods on a number of roads. It is expected to intensify during the coming hours before completely disappearing tomorrow evening, Friday.
In this context, the head of the Estimations Department at the Meteorological Department, Muhammad Kanj, confirmed in a statement to that the rain will continue today, Thursday, with a decrease in wind speed after exceeding 80 km/h yesterday, while its maximum speed today reaches about 65 km/h.
He pointed out that after about 60 mm of rain fell in Tripoli, about 40 mm more are expected to fall today, noting that Beirut recorded 33 mm yesterday, and is expected to witness at least 25 mm today.
He added that snow is falling today at an altitude of 1600 meters, and will decrease during the evening and until dawn tomorrow, Friday, to reach heights exceeding 1300 meters above sea level.
Accordingly, Kanj warned citizens against taking mountain roads that are more than 1500 meters high, due to the accumulation of snow and the formation of ice.
He pointed out that the weather tomorrow, Friday, will be cloudy to partly cloudy, with the possibility of some rain before noon, in addition to snowfall at an altitude of 1300 meters, with a further decrease in temperatures during the morning period, with the weather witnessing a marked improvement during the day and completely stabilizing starting Friday evening.
He continued that dawn on Saturday will record the lowest temperatures, as the weather becomes icy, and the temperature touches zero at an altitude of 1000 meters, with ice forming on mountain roads starting from this altitude, with maximum temperatures returning to rise during the daylight hours.
He explained that the weather will remain stable from Saturday until next Friday, with a noticeable improvement in temperatures, as they will rise between 6 and 9 degrees in the mountainous regions, and about 6 degrees on the coast.
Kanj pointed out that the amounts of rain are good, as Lebanon has become very close to last year’s rate, and is likely to exceed it by the end of this depression.
He concluded by noting that the weather maps show a new change in the weather starting next Saturday, with expectations that Lebanon will be affected by a new weather depression starting on January 9, but it is still too early to talk about it.
