Dubai: Rain fell across the UAE on Thursday, with particularly intense downpours in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah.
In started to pour in seaside cities, northern and interior areas in the late afternoon on Thursday.
The wet weather is expected to last until Friday.
“We expect different intensities of rainfall by late afternoon,” a forecaster from the National Centre of Meteorology and Seismology told Gulf News on Thursday.
"Tomorrow also the weather will be the same. We have fresh to strong north-westerly winds right now and it’s causing a drop in temperature across the country and it’s causing the seas to become rough to very rough with 13 feet waves offshore in the Arabian Gulf, and 8ft waves offshore in the Oman Sea."
Rain-soaked Al Ittihad Road linking Dubai and Sharjah. Taken at 9.40pm on Thursday. — Devadasan K.P. / Gulf News
The weather instability is caused by a low pressure in the south of Iran and the extension of the trough is affecting the UAE.
The situation brings in a cold air mass, causing a significant drop in temperatures across the country, even to below freezing temperatures over the mountains on Friday.
The coastal area will have average temperatures of 23C while the internal area may have a max 25C, and minimum between 14C to 18C.
“There is a possibility for freezing rain when temperatures drop to maybe 0 degree Celsius and with continued precipitation, but this will only be at the top of the mountain,” the forecaster clarified.
شدة وسرعة الرياح المتوقعة خلال الحالة الجوية الحالية #الوطني_للأرصاد pic.twitter.com/SP7R1Y7OJF— UAE WEATHER (@NCMS_media) February 1, 2017
pic.twitter.com/mIAu1m4fPO— UAE WEATHER (@NCMS_media) February 2, 2017
pic.twitter.com/NKHEFGCiq0— UAE WEATHER (@NCMS_media) February 2, 2017
pic.twitter.com/3uTTgzeXaj— UAE WEATHER (@NCMS_media) February 2, 2017
Freezing rain
Freezing rain refers to rain droplets that fall through a shallow layer of cold temperatures at freezing temperatures or below 0 degrees Celsius near the surface.
The weather alert on Wednesday mentioned a possibility of a snowfall on the mountaintops. Snow happens when the temperatures from the clouds all the way to the ground are well below freezing.
Visibility could also drop to less than 2,000m in some areas due to the winds.
