Al Ain: Interesting, unexpected, weird and bizarre were the words people used to describe the weather over the last three days.
A thunderstorm almost caught people off-guard. People at a Dubai concert and pedestrians in Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and other cities ran helter-skelter to take refuge under shelters on Saturday night. It was largely unexpected although meteorologists had been warning of dust and rain for the last several days.
It was quite an interesting weather event for forecasters as well. Starting from Friday, the weather swung from one extreme to another until Sunday night. The wind shifting from a southerly to north-westerly direction and the extension of a cold front affected the weather conditions.
The National Centre of Meteorology and Seismology (NCMS) said a dry and hot southerly flow raised the mercury substantially on Thursday and Friday, reaching above 40 degrees in some inland areas. It also kicked up dust and sand that later enveloped the country.
A low pressure area with a cold upper air mass started setting in on Saturday in the western area of the UAE. It pushed in strong Shamal (north-westerly) winds along with clouds from over the sea that moved towards the coastal and inland areas.
The clouds generated thunder activity almost all along the western coastline on Saturday evening that later extended up to Al Ain and Al Dahid cities. Another patch of clouds moved in on Sunday morning over Ajman, Sharjah and Dubai, with a thunderstorm. Inland areas such as Al Ain faced a duststorm.
According to the NCMS weather bulletin, conditions started improving from Sunday evening and cool and partly cloudy weather will take over from Monday. The amount of clouds may increase over the northern and eastern areas today (Monday).
The wind speed will decrease to moderately rough levels in general. The sea will also be moderately rough and humidity level will increase at night and early on Tuesday morning with chances of fog over some areas.
