Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Weather forecasters on Tuesday urged the public to avoid exposure to direct sunlight as the Kingdom continues to bake in a heavy heat wave that pushed mercury levels well beyond seasonal average by almost 10 degrees.

In its daily advisory, the Jordan Meteorological Department (JMD) said sanitizers, inflammable items and pressurized containers should not be left inside cars, especially as midday temperatures are expected to approach the 40 degrees Celsius threshold in the highlands.

The southernmost Red Sea port of Aqaba and the Jordan Valley will continue to reel under sweltering weather as daytime temperature will range between 44 and 46 degrees.

In the highlands, north and south, it will remain hot and dry during daytime but it will cool down in the evening with temperatures falling into the 21-23 degrees vicinity.

The hot spell is not expected to break before Friday at best, the JMD said, adding that similar weather conditions will persist on Wednesday and Thursday.

On Monday, firefighters battled around 240 bush and wildland fires, mostly caused by the current blazing heat.