Egypt witnesses cold, rainy and windy weather from Tuesday and will continue till Thursday, according to a statement by the Egyptian Meteorological Authority (EMA).

Temperatures are to fall down by six degrees at night and are to be accompanied by sandy winds in some areas, added the statement.

Cairo and four other governorates Alexandria, Marsa Matrouh, Kafr El-Sheikh and Dakahlia have witnesed medium rains throughout the day.

Minister of Local Development Mahmoud Shaarawy said that all the governorates bodies are on alert to face any emergencies that could result from this wave of bad weather starting from today.

Director of the Analysis Department at the EMA Mahmoud Shahin said the cold wave spiraling in Egypt is called the “Cyprus Tropical Depression”, which is one of the major tropical depressions to hit the Mediterranean Sea starting from November till end of March, he was quoted as saying on Al-Ahram Arabic.

The country's areas will see a state of unstable weather that will continue until Thursday, the EMA's Director of Remote Sensing Eman Shaker said in a TV statement on Monday.

The country is exposed to a tropical depression that is centered on the island of Cyprus in addition to an already existing tropical depression centered in the upper atmosphere layers that also brings cold air blocks, Shaker added.

Upper Egyptian regions will see less degrees than Cairo and its suburbs and it may reach -2 in the South Sinai city of Saint Catherine as for coastal cities, wave height will reach six metres on Wednesday.

The South Sinai Nature Reserves Administration announced on Wednesday the cancelation of all activities and touristic excursions, including safari and cruises until the end of the cold weather wave.

According to EMA, the unstable weather will persist till the end of the week, in which Wednesday will see chances of sporadic rain on governorates of Greater Cairo with temperature’s at highs ranging between 12 to 13 degrees during the day and will be ranging between seven to eight degrees at night.

The governorates of Lower Egypt will witness thunder rains and wind, while the governorates of the northwestern coasts will witness torrential rains to be accompanied by intervals of thunder rains.

While for Thursday, the conclusion of the bad weather days, highs will range between 15 to 16 degrees during the day while ranging between seven to nine degrees at night. The chances of rain falling in the governorates of Greater Cairo and the Canal governorates, which are Ismailia, Suez and Port Said will reach 60 percent on intermittent intervals.

EMA released a warning from undertaking any marine activities in the Mediterranean Sea during the wave of bad weather.

A bigger polar cold wave has hit the Middle East countries, covering 2.5 million km, where Cairo was the least affected by it. The wave has dropped temperatures to under zero in some countries like Saudi Arabia and Jordan while it turns into an ice storm in Iraq for the first time in 12 years.