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Don’t Sweat it, Cool Change on the Way

DUBAI - If Saturday’s heat came as a shock to you after the cool weather, don’t take it as a sign to stash away your woollens just yet, cautions the weatherman. While the mercury shot up to 37.5 degrees Celsius on Saturday — the highest recorded in the month of February since 1974 — forecaster Clive Stevens said, “I promise hats and coats by Tuesday.”

A warm south-easterly wind pushed up the temperature on Saturday, and also brought sandstorms which reduced visibility to 700 metres in parts of Dubai. Stevens said Saturday’s high beat by a substantial margin the previous record of 36 degrees Celsius recorded in February in 1974.

“It’s nothing extraordinary,” Stevens said. “If you’re going to beat an all-time record high for a month then it’s likely to happen at the end of the month. Just like an all-time record low for a month is likely to happen at the start of the month.”

A monitoring station, which has been functioning for less than a year, at Dubai World Central Al Maktoum Airport, at Jebel Ali, recorded 40 degrees Celsius.

The warm weather is expected to continue on Sunday and Stevens said it could culminate in a thunderstorm starting over the sea late in the evening. A cool change would come with the shamal wind from the north, predicted for Monday. “It will be a maximum of 23 degrees,” he said.

zoe@khaleejtimes.com