Dubai: The UAE Met Office issued another alert for cloudy weather in Al Ain and surrounding areas on Wednesday, following heavy rainfall and hail in the region yesterday.
Despite the hot and humid conditions across most of the UAE, Al Ain is experiencing cloudy weather and rain. What's causing this disparity, and why is humidity so high across the country?
We asked Dr Habib Ahmed, a senior meteorologist at the National Center of Meteorology (NCM) to find out more about the current weather in the country.
“The UAE is currently affected by the Indian monsoon low, which is pushing hot, humid air mass from the south-east over the UAE. There is an easterly flow from the Arabian Sea and the Oman Sea. This is causing high humidity in the eastern parts of the country. The region is also affected by thermal lows,” he told Gulf News.
Also referred to as a heat low, ‘a thermal low’ is caused due to intense daytime heating over a region, especially in arid areas, he explained.
The resulting phenomenon, called ‘thermal low-pressure’, can cause isolated rain and storms in deserts because of extreme heating.
He added that the UAE also falls in the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ), a narrow belt where warm, moist air rises and condenses into water droplets, forming clouds and rainstorms.
“With humid air mass from the south and south-east, mainly from Oman, the weather conditions are helping in cloud formation,” Dr Ahmed added.
“This is why there was heavy rainfall and even hail on Tuesday in some parts of Al Ain.”
On Tuesday, heavy rainfall and hail were recorded in Gasyoura in the Al Dhafra region, Al Wiqan, and Umm Azimul in Al Ain.
“However, today, the weather parameters have changed. There is not enough moisture in the atmosphere. Due to this reason, while there is still chance of clouds, there is a weaker chance of rain.
“Cloudy weather with a weak chance of rain is expected to continue on Thursday and Friday. But there is more chance of rain over the weekend,” he added.
Why is it so humid in the UAE?
“The country is also affected by north-westerly winds during noon time bringing humidity from the Arabian Gulf into the country – this is expected to continue until late night, sometimes causing fog and mist in the night and during early morning hours. The winds push humidity from the sea over the land, causing humid weather,” Dr Ahmed said.
This week, humidity was recorded between 90 to 95 per cent in coastal areas, he confirmed.
Meanwhile, temperature highs are expected to continue hitting 45 to 49 degrees Celsius in the internal parts of the country, and 42 to 45 degrees Celsius in the coastal areas.
