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A residents battles the dust in Sharjah. For illustrative purposes only. Image Credit: Arshad Ali/Gulf News

Dubai: Residents in the UAE woke up on Sunday morning to find another day of unstable weather as particles of dust and sand filled the air. 

Motorists also faced obstacles on highways and inner city roads as visibility dropped to less than 2,000 metres over some coastal and internal areas.

On its Twitter account, the National Centre of Meteorology (NCM) posted a video of a sand storm on Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Road in Ajman, and cautioned residents with asthma to take necessary precautions.  

A weather forecaster at the NCM told Gulf News that the UAE is currently experiencing the Shammal season, which is when north-northwesterly winds blow across the country.  

“The shammal is used to describe north-northwesterly winds that causes rough sea and blows dust over coastal and internal areas. The shammal winds are coming from Saudi Arabia, which brings the dust into the UAE. We cannot say for certain how long these winds will last because it depends on the pressure front and a number of other factors,” said the weather forecaster. 

The NCM issued a warning over strong 50km/h winds that swept dust over Dubai, Sharjah and Fujairah.

The weather until Tuesday will remain hot and hazy in general, and partly cloudy at times, according to the NCM.

“Southwesterly winds will become northwesterly at a speed of 25-35km/h, reaching 50km/h at times with suspended and blowing dust. The sea will be rough in the Arabian Gulf and mild to rough at times in the Oman Sea.”

Minimum temperatures in Dubai and Abu Dhabi reached the low 30s, as the NCM recorded Abu Dhabi International Airport at 34C, Jumeirah at 34.7C, and Ajman at 32.8C.   

The top five lowest temperatures from midnight to 8am included Jebel Jais at 22.5C, Jebel Mebreh at 24.3C, Al Qor at 25.6C, al FarFar at 26C and Hatta at 26.8C.  

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