UAE | Environment
Cold weather drives up heater sales in Sharjah
Sale of room heaters has gone up as the Siberian winds drove down temperatures to below 6C in Sharjah.
- By Mariam M. Al Serkal, Staff Reporter
- Published: 21:17 February 8, 2008
- A heater lets a family sleep comfortably. Cold winds from Siberia have driven temperatures down to unusually low levels with Sharjah bearing the brunt of it. Picture for illustrative purpose only.
- Image Credit: Arshad Ali/Gulf News
Sharjah: Sale of room heaters has gone up as the Siberian winds drove down temperatures to below 6C in Sharjah.
Innayath Khan, a garage worker, said it was so cold the past few days that two of his colleagues fell ill with severe fever.
He said the owner then bought two heaters, one for the garage and one for the worker's accommodation. "We bought a second-hand one," he said.
According to the Sharjah met office, the temperature dropped to 5.7C on Thursday night.
Sharjah recorded 2.5C in February of 1991, an official at the met office said.
The cold is because of the high pressure system coming from Siberia.
The forecaster expects the weather to continue being warmer in the day (21C to 25C) and colder in the nights.
Accident fears
"In the past years it was not this cold," he said, noting that in 2001 the minimum was 7.7C in Sharjah and 10.5C in Dubai.
Vasantha, an Indian housewife, said she runs the room heater two hours before her children go to bed, as she is fearful of accidents with the electric heater.
"Before we bought the heater, they used to wake up in the middle of the night crying," she said.
But Imma Cerdan said the weather reminds her of home. "It's nice to wear warm clothes and breathe in the fresh, clean air. I feel energetic," said Hussain Abdul Rahman, who had studied in Europe.
Heaters were selling like hot cakes, said salesmen at hypermarkets.
"We had 500 pieces and sold them all in less than a month. We were out of stock for a while, but have purchased 60 more pieces to meet the demand," said Satish, an employee at a hypermarket.
The prices of heaters have not gone up and have remained the same for the past two months, according to shopkeepers who also pointed out that tourists also contributed to the bulk of purchases.
"They have sold very fast. But we expected it because of the weather," said a sales executive at a supermarket, adding that small heaters cost about Dh50.
Share this article
More from UAE Environment
More from UAE
Popular in UAE
-
Your pictures
Readers' pictures
The best reader pictures from around the UAE this week
Latest news
- Dance group brings taste of Korean culture to Abu Dhabi
- Africa segment at Dubai film festival
- Campaign to emphasise unity of UAE begins
- EAD studies focus on water security
- Facing battle against obesity in UAE schools
- Abu Dhabi plans to take comedy seriously
- Dubai Press Club marks 10th anniversary
- Visitors flock to see latest offerings at Sharjah book fair
- UAE combats human trafficking
- Ministry denies hijacking of UAE-flagged ship
- Saif meets special needs centre users
- Man says he repaid 95% of amount he embezzled
- Dubai saleswoman claims she was duped, raped
- Female clerk, waiter deny drug trafficking charges
- Gulf health officials slam unethical advertising
Community Reports
-
Help me find my precious cat
Raif, my cute eight-month-old ‘fur ball', went missing in Abu Dhabi's Al Bateen area last month
-
Pavement parking irks pedestrians
Gulf News reader calls on authorities to step in and stop car owners from invading pathways meant for safe walking
-
Faded parking lines pose a problem
Motorists could be fined for parking incorrectly even though they can hardly see the boundaries in the designated areas
-
School buses block residential parking
Commercial vehicles taking up free parking facilities in Al Wuheida, inconveniencing residents in surrounding villas
