Dubai: Hailstones, the size of golf balls, and heavy rainfall showered down over Fujairah and Khorfakkan on Thursday evening. Speaking to Gulf News, an National Center of Meteorology (NCM) official confirmed that more hail and rain are expected till 8pm tonight, along the eastern coast of the country.
According to the Met Office, the UAE is experiencing an extension of surface low-pressure systems in the easterrn parts of the country, accompanied by an extension of an upper air low-pressure. This is causing rainy unstable weather.
Esraa Alnaqbi, a weather forecaster at NCM, told Gulf News: "While rain started as light showers in Dubai and Sharjah, as the clouds moved towards the east, they were interrupted by the mountains in Fujairah and Khorfakkan. Along with this, a low pressure system in that part of the country caused rain to freeze and fall as hailstones."
Videos shared by @storm_ae, an Instagram account that posts weather videos from the UAE, showed residents finding big hailstones in some places.
According to a post by @storm_ae, hailstones also caused damage to some cars.
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UAE authorities have issued warnings, asking residents to keep away from low-lying areas that are prone to flash floods, especially in the eastern parts of the country.
The NCM also shared videos of flash flooding in some wadis (valleys).
Unstable weather is expected to continue tonight 8pm. Light rainfall is also expected on Friday afternoon in Fujairah, Khorfakkan, and surrounding areas along the eastern coast. The conditions over Oman Sea are also rough due to cloud activity in that area, the NCM official warned.
She also confirmed that the NCM is conducting cloud seeding operations after monitoring the clouds, to maximise rainfall in the country.
Temperatures saw a dip on Wednesday night and Thursday morning. The temperatures will remain steady on Friday and Saturday, and will see an increase on Sunday, Alnaqbi said.
