Dubai: The northern emirate of Ras Al Khaimah received an unexpected surprise with Saturday’s rainfall as hail fell down hard on cars and roads, covering areas with a white sheet of ice.
Footage posted on the social media account of the amateur club’s UAE Storm Centre showed the area of Al Tuwaiyin covered in hail stones.
A senior forecaster at the National Center of Meteorology (NCM) told Gulf News on Sunday that the incident is completely appropriate for this time of year "as the country undergoes a bout of unstable weather."
Dr Ahmad Habib, from the NCM, said that there will be a chance of more rain and hail in the northern emirate as the day progresses.
“On Sunday, we can expect a chance of convective clouds after midday over scattered areas, accompanied with heavy rain, hail and thunder,” said Dr Habib.
“The country is going through unstable weather and is developing from the sea, and is gradually spreading over coastal areas, and will possibly affect Abu Dhabi and Dubai. It will also extend to parts of northern and eastern areas of the country.”
Dr Habib pointed out that the hail storm that affected Ras Al Khaimah has not come early, as the UAE is currently transitioning from summer into winter.
“During the transitional phase from summer into winter, we have low atmospheric pressure that causes rain. And we expect more rain to come in the coming days,” he added.
Ahmad Hamad Al Shehhi, an adviser to Ras Al Khaimah’s department of public works and supervisor of the Rain Emergency Committee, said that 38,500 gallons of rain water were out from roads and residents’ houses within 12 hours, which were carried out over 77 trips.
He pointed out since Saturday, the department received 15 complaints, ranging from nine rain-related complaints, three trees that fell down and the failure of one traffic signal.
