UAE weather: Cloudy, wet weather is here to stay

Temperature as low as five degrees was recorded from mountainous areas on Saturday night, while coastal areas recorded 15 to 18 degrees Celsius in the evening.

A man enjoys a drizzle in the Capital on Saturday evening. — KT photo by Syed Hameeduddin Quadri

The National Centre of Meteorology and Seismology has yet again issued warnings about scattered rainfall across the country and strong winds blowing dust from the desert, thus reducing visibility.

Temperature as low as five degrees was recorded from mountainous areas on Saturday night, while coastal areas recorded 15 to 18 degrees Celsius in the evening.

“It was very cold, indeed. We were camping out in the desert near Al Ain on Friday night and the wind was hard and icy. Even with a bonfire in place, it was too cold to stay out,” said Jenny Crawford, an Al Ain resident.

Over the long weekend, many offroading clubs organised overnight camping in the desert around Al Khatem, Swaihan and Al Ain, despite the strong winds and “icy” weather.

Throughout Saturday, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah and other emirates remained cloudy with scattered rainfall announced for the afternoon and overnight, with winds of 45km per hour. The sea too was rough last night across the Arabian Gulf and Oman Sea.

Today also the weather is expected to stay cloudy, especially over coastal and northern areas, with rainfall of varying intensity expected. Abu Dhabi has a 60 per cent chance of receiving rain in the morning with the maximum temperature expected to be 23 degrees Celsius. Strong winds are expected to cause sand storms thereby reducing visibility, especially in open areas.

silvia@khaleejtimes.com