UAE | Traffic and Transport

Early morning motorists 'must take extra care'

People driving in the early morning must be extra cautious as foggy conditions are expected to continue, said a weatherman.

  • By Aftab Kazmi, Bureau Chief, and Rayeesa Absal, Staff Reporter
  • Published: 23:41 March 11, 2008
  • Gulf News

  • Heavy fog affected visibility reducing it to 200 metres at times affecting the landings of 27 flights at Abu Dhabi International Airport on Tuesday.
  • Image Credit: Gulf News Archive
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Al Ain/Abu Dhabi: People driving in the early morning must be extra cautious as foggy conditions are expected to continue, said a weatherman.

Visibility was less than 100 metres on Tuesday morning. It is expected to drop to significant levels in some areas this morning. The weatherman said the fog will start to set in around 3am when the winds change direction from south-east to north-west.

"Contrasting maximum and minimum temperatures in the day and night and moisture-laden north westerly winds have been causing fog and mist in different parts of the country," said the weatherman at the National Centre for Meteorology and Seismology (NCMS.)

The NCMS official said the daytime temperature has been touching 30C to 35C in the UAE, but has been falling to 15C to 17C at night.

"The humidity level also increases with the change in the wind that later transforms into fog with a higher concentration in coastal and interior areas," he said

According to the NCMS forecast for the next 48 hours, temperatures are expected to rise and conditions will be fair to hot in general. It will be cold at night especially over mountainous areas.

Heavy fog affected visibility reducing it to 200 metres at times affecting the landings of 27 flights at Abu Dhabi International Airport yesterday. The airport shut down operations for about seven hours.

An Abu Dhabi International Airport official disclosed the airport was closed from 2.22am until 9.48am for safety reasons.

Senior airport officials reiterated they were working towards alleviating disruption to air traffic due to bad weather as much as possible, and this measure was necessary to ensure passenger safety.

Timeline: Alert came at 6.39am

  • Accident reported at 6.39am
  • Vehicles involved :60
  • Vehicles burnt :25
  • Buses involved: 12
  • Dead: 3
  • Injured: 347
  • Serious injuries: 15
  • Moderate injuries: 39
  • Minor injuries: 293
  • Rescue operation lasted four hours.
  • Road closed for five hours.

- WAM

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