Heavy rains in UAE: No cloud seeding done, confirms Met Office
NCM meteorologist urges people not to fall for articles, videos spreading misinformation
Don't fall for fake news – it was not cloud seeding that caused heavy rains in the UAE, the Met Office has confirmed in an exclusive interview with Gulf News.
Dr Habib Ahmed, a senior meteorologist at the National Center of Meteorology (NCM) explained that not a single cloud seeding flight was done during the period that the unstable weather situation lasted in the country.
“No, there was no cloud seeding done,” he said, urging people not to believe the misinformation being spread by some media houses and social media accounts.
Weather situation in the region
The NCM was closely analysing the weather situation developing in the region, especially the neighbouring parts of Saudi Arabia and Oman.
“We monitored the situation well in advance,” he said.
On Thursday, April 11, the NCM shared an alert, warning of a period of unstable weather, rainfall, strong winds, dust storms, thunderstorms, and hail across the country.
The NCM alerts clearly stated that rain-bearing clouds starting from the western parts of the country, would move over the entire country, starting Sunday, causing rainfall of different intensities.
“The weather situation has been very strong in the entire region,” Dr Habib explained.
“There was very deep low pressure from the Southwest and Oman, moving into our country. At the same time, there was a deep low-pressure situation in the upper layer of the atmosphere over the UAE. There was also humid air moving from the Arabian Sea towards the UAE and Oman, since Sunday. This is what caused the unstable weather in the country.
“Extremely strong winds and downdrafts caused moisture-laden clouds that had developed south of Oman and in Saudi Arabia, to suddenly move over the UAE. They came in two very strong waves on Monday and Tuesday causing heavy rainfall and thunderstorms, as we had analysed,” he explained.
Stable weather ahead
The weather situation is expected to be stable over the coming few days. There may be a few cloudy days in and around Al Ain, the expert said.
“Expect a gradual increase in temperatures over the coming days,” he added.