It's official: Summer in UAE has ended, this is when winter begins

With the summer season having 'officially' ended on Monday, UAE residents can expect foggy conditions over the next five days. The mercury plummeted to a cool 17.5°C in the Damtha area near Al Ain on Monday.

The temperature was recorded at 5.45am, according to a tweet by the National Centre of Meteorology (NCM).

Dr Ahmed Habib from the NCM told Khaleej Times that summer ended on Monday and autumn begins on Tuesday. The weather expert noted that the winter season in the UAE is expected to begin on December 21.

"This is the period of transition from summer to winter. We expect the temperatures to decrease during the day and in the evening. The weather over the coming days will remain fair in general with some low clouds in the eastern coast."

He said the relative humidity will increase during the night and early morning over some coastal areas.

Dr Habib explained that fog is expected in "scattered areas" as humidity levels rise and summer temperatures gradually drop. "Minimum and maximum temperatures will gradually decrease over the coming days. Fog is expected in areas between Abu Dhabi and Dubai and in Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah, during early morning hours from Tuesday to Saturday," he said.

Beachgoers shouldn't worry as the sea will be mostly calm in the Arabian Gulf and Sea of Oman over the coming days.

Ibrahim Al Jarwan, a member of the Arab Union for Astronomy and Space Sciences, had said on Sunday that autumn would begin on September 22 "at 5.31pm".

Al Jarwan explained that the sun will be directly over the equator, and will start moving towards the southern hemisphere. Day and night will be of equal length, following which days will get shorter and nights longer.

The day and night will then be of equal length again on March 20, 2021.

ismail@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai

Ismail Sebugwaawo

ismail@khaleejtimes.com