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The UAE woke up to unstable weather on Thursday but rainshowers and thunderstorms peaked by late afternoon, particularly in Dubai.
The downpour, accompanied by sporadic lightning, had prompted the police to issue safety advisories across the country. Bottlenecks were reported on a number of roads due to waterlogging.
As the evening rush hour approached, Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) advised motorists heading for Sharjah to avoid the Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road as rainwater had accumulated at the entrance of the emirate.
The Dubai Police urged those going to or from the airport to take the Metro to avoid traffic jams.
Some schools in the UAE were also dispersed early. Circulars were sent to some parents, informing them that students who take the school bus could be coming home with "wet feet" as bus bays were flooded.
Residents in Dubai's Al Quoz area captured heavy rain and thunderstorms on this video:
Another reader spotted lightning strikes:
The UAE has been seeing heavy showers over the last 10 days — and more is expected until Friday.
Speaking to Khaleej Times on Thursday, Dr Ahmed Habib from the National Centre of Meteorology (NCM) explained that the country is affected by an extension of surface low pressure along with a jet stream (narrow bands of strong wind that generally blow across the globe) from the West.
“We have good cloud cover now (coming) from the Arabian Sea towards Dubai, Ras Al Khaimah and Sharjah. So, heavy rains are expected over the next few hours in different parts of the UAE. This will continue until tomorrow," he said.
Tomorrow, Friday, rain will hit the eastern and northern parts of the country but the volume will gradually start decreasing by afternoon.
“However, over the next five days, there are still chances of convective clouds forming over the eastern part of the UAE, especially in the mountains — and these may cause rainfall.”
Convective cloud formations, which are scattered over different areas of the country, are associated with rainfall particularly during this time of the year.
Five regions in the country had seen "the highest amounts of rain recorded until noon on Wednesday", the weather forecaster said.
“The maximum rainfall was in Ras Al Khaimah, including Jabal Al Haban, where maximum rainfall recorded was at 34.9mm; followed by the Manama region with 31.4mm; Al Marjan experienced a rainfall of 25.8mm; and Wadi Towa area logged a rainfall of 14.5mm.”
Besides natural weather events, the continuous downpour was also a result of several successful cloud-seeding missions.
“Three days ago, cloud-seeding missions happened over different parts of the UAE,” he added.
Dr Habib noted that on Friday, the weather be generally fair to partly cloudy, with a chance of rain.
This rainfall will be of different intensities, accompanied by lightning, thunder, and some hail at times.
It will be humid at night until Sunday morning in some coastal and inland areas, with the possibility of mist or light fog formations.
Winds can be fresh to strong at times causing increased dust and sand in the air and reducing the horizontal visibility.
The sea will be slight to moderate and rough at times, with clouds in the Arabian Gulf and slight to moderate in the Oman Sea.
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