The Egyptian Authorities have ordered the emergency closure of all the tourist beaches in Alexandria, and issued a warning to shipping on their Mediterranean coast from Marsa Matruh in the west, to  El-Alamein and Baltim in the east  - a distance of some 419 Kilometres - following urgent warnings from the Egyptian Meteorological Authority.

https://www.egyptindependent.com/alexandria-closes-all-beaches-on-tuesday-over-rough-waves

The closure of all the beaches in Alexandria which is a popular seaside holiday destination for residents of Cairo comes at the peak-end of the summer holiday season, and represents a major disruption to the tourist industry. It is also quite unusual for this time of year. Such beach closures normally only occur later in the autumn and winter.

The stated reason is said to be high onshore winds likely to create waves of up to 3.5 metres high.

Only six weeks ago the head of Egypt’s National Institute of Astronomical and Geophysical Research (NIAGR), Taha Rabeh, dismissed warnings from a marine captain regarding unusual changes in the Mediterranean Sea.

https://www.egyptindependent.com/egyptian-institute-dismisses-mediterranean-sea-anomaly-claims-as-unscientific

The claims originated from a marine captain named “Nour”, who in a TikTok video that alleged that, “Something wrong is happening in the sea, and it’s not the right time for it.”

He described the wave movements as “unexplained,” their frequencies “strange,” and their source as “unknown.”

Rabeh asserted that the captain’s claims are “Completely false, exaggerated, and lack any scientific basis” - emphasising that high winds are a natural phenomenon.

Edited August 26Aug 26 by toucana
Missing 'a' in line 1, also fixed punctuation and capitalisation errors in paras 2 & 3.

How does one relate this anomaly, if it is one, to climate generally? This seems to border on an anecdote, given that weather often presents brief anomalous events.

2 hours ago, TheVat said:

How does one relate this anomaly, if it is one, to climate generally? This seems to border on an anecdote, given that weather often presents brief anomalous events.

I  follow the feeds of an Arabic speaking Vlogger called Anamero who is based in Alexandria  Egypt. She regularly posts videos about the weather, sea states, and beachfront life along the Corniche in Alexandria. She has posted two videos within the last  24 hours - one yesterday showing a  kilometres long line of closed beaches, and another one this morning showing a 3 metre swell coming ashore at the famous Stanley Bay bathing beach. So it’s a little bit more than ‘anecdotal’.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wz9cl9j9dnU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SwLQcIOSyU

Alexandria is famous for its persistent strong sea breezes - as described by writers like E.M Forster and Lawrence Durrell who lived there during WW1 and WW2 respectively. But this type of life-threatening heavy swell is unprecedented in summer months. It normally only occurs much later in the winter - which lends credence to suspicion that a significant climate change effect might be at work here.

The fact that Egypt’s National Institute of Astronomical and Geophysical Research (NIAGR) recently denied reports from professional mariners that significant changes are occuring in south Mediterranean weather systems only adds to that suspicion.

As to quite what might be causing this, some reports suggest that sea temperatures are increasing up to 20% faster than the global average in this area, making it a recognised "climate hotspot’ with increasingly frequent marine heatwaves, rising sea levels and increases in salinity - all of which contribute to more unstable weather patterns.

https://www.unep.org/unepmap/resources/factsheets/climate-change