UAE: Thunderstorm And Rain To Hit Country This Weekend

The UAE will most likely witness a cold wave this weekend, temperature dropping to 4°C.

According to forecasters, thunderstorm and rain will hit parts of the country with moderate to heavy showers expected in multiple areas.

Dr Ahmed Habib from the National Centre of Meteorology (NCM) told Khaleej Times on Thursday, “The country will experience a significant drop in temperature over the next three days starting tomorrow, with temperature being around 4°C.”

He added, “Sunday, January 8, is expected to be a cloudy day especially for the northern and the eastern parts of the country, particularly in Fujairah and Dibba. These places are likely to see rains from morning to noon, with the possibility of light rain in the daytime later, as well. Some areas in Al Ain will also see moderate rain.”

The country is affected by an extension of upper air jet steam from the west, accompanied with different cloud formation flowing with a trough of surface low pressure, from the southwest.

“We are already under the effect of the low-pressure system that started the day before yesterday. There is an extension of low pressure from the north in the upper layers and the same extension of low pressure on the surface layer as well. There are clouds coming from the east towards our area, which mainly comes from Saudi Arabia. Some clouds have developed over our area, especially in the last two days. This cloud cover has particularly been observed over the coastal areas in the east and in some northern parts of the UAE, that is likely to give us rain,” Habib adds.

“On Friday and Saturday, the low pressure will develop more over our area and will give us rain of different intensity, especially in the coastal area including Ruwais and Dalma and Baniyas islands.

These convective clouds will move to the coastal areas in the north, from Dubai to Ras al Khaimah and gives us rain of different intensity…from moderate to sometimes heavy rain. Some areas in the north of Ras al Khaimah will also experience thunderstorm and heavy rain,” opines Dr Habib.

When asked if this is the effect of cloud seeding, the veteran weatherman says, “Cloud seeding is always done whenever there are clouds that meet certain criteria and are suitable for seeding. This is done routinely in the UAE whenever there is rain.”