High humidity pushes comfort index to near-stress level in UAE

Dubai: High humidity will make days and nights very uncomfortable for the next few days, but the mercury will not go record high again to 51.4 degrees Celsius as recorded at Al Minhad air base outside Abu Dhabi in the first of July, 2008.
Though the temperature is not as high and just hovering around 40 degrees Celsius, humidity levels of 75 to 80 per cent has pushed the comfort index towards near-stress zone. The weather bureau daily reports the comfort index advising people to avoid getting sunstroke. The index is graded from 'comfortable' to 'high stress'. The higher the humidity, the higher the stress level.

"We were expecting fog but that didn't happen," said Dr. S.K. Gupta, duty forecaster. But it was hazy on Tuesday morning, reducing visibility to five to six kilometers, he said.

The dust haze will continue to envelope the UAE till the southerly winds arrive, he said. The dust is not locally generated and is coming from the northern part of the Gulf, he said.