Cloudy skies, humid weather quite likely today

Emaduddin Khalil, Staff Reporter

The centre said the weather on Friday was expected to be clear to partly cloudy with the possibility of some cumulative clouds to be formed on the northern and eastern areas. The weather will be humid at night and early Saturday in some coastal and inland areas with a chance of fog, particularly in the west. The winds will be south-easterly to north-easterly. They will be moderate but strong sometimes at 18 to 28 and up to 38 km/hour. The sea will have light to moderate waves in the Arabian Gulf and Sea of Oman.

Rain of varying degrees of intensity and hail fell on various parts of the UAE on Thursday. The rain started at 1.44pm as a result of the country being affected by weak, low pressure on the surface and high pressure in the upper atmosphere.

Light to moderate rain fell on Masafi, Al Munaee and Hatta/Dafta in Ras Al Khaimah, while heavy rain with hail fell on Shees-Khor Fakkan Road and moderate to heavy rain fell on Al Shuwaib in Al Ain. Heavy rain also fell on Al Bleida/Wadi Asfi in Ras Al Khaimah, while heavy rain and hail fell on Al Madam in Sharjah and moderate rain on Madinat Zayed in Al Dhafra Region.

The National Centre of Meteorology has called on the public to exercise extreme caution while driving during rain and low horizontal visibility due to the strong sand-stirring winds. It also advised them to keep away from flooded areas.

Heavy rain lashed the emirate of Fujairah and adjacent areas in the early hours of Sunday. There were no casualties.

The National Centre of Meteorology (NCM) shared videos showing flooded streets.

The rain was accompanied by thunderstorms that led to uprooting of a number of trees and plastic barriers used in construction operations.

Dust swirls and hailstorms hit Ras Al Khaimah and Sharjah. In addition, a number of billboards installed on the main streets and shops and umbrella car parking shades of a number of institutions in Fujairah reportedly collapsed due to the bad weather.