Thursday, January 17, 2008

The storm (or series of W.D.s) has ended at last over eastern Arabia, U.A.E. and west Pakistan, but not before leaving its mark.

The effect on Dubai was particularly severe and heavy, as in elsewhere U.A.E. and Saudi Arabia.
A record rainfall for a January day in Dubai yesterday threw normal life out of gear in the emirate. While the rain led to widespread flooding across areas of Dubai, Sharjah and Ajman, partly submerging cars, disrupting traffic and forcing schools to close yesterday, five people were reported killed and many injured in separate road accidents in the emirates.
More than 105mm of rainfall -20mm higher than the January record- was recorded in Dubai from Monday evening to 6pm on Wednessday . The average rainfall for January in Dubai is 17mm.
Sharjah, with 100mm rainfall, was one of the worst affected.

The temperatures too had plunged to severe lows, with many an extreme recorded.

In the United Arab Emirates, the temperature hit zero in the northern areas, and snow fell on Al-Jais mountain last Tuesday in the northern emirate of Ras Al-Khaimah.

In Qatar temperatures dropped to an unusually low of 7c.

In Bahrain, which had its lowest recorded temperature of 2.7 c in 1964, the mercury dropped to between5 c and 7 c.

In Kuwait, the temperature in the open desert dropped to -3 Celsius at dawn on Wednesday for the second straight day, while passengers landing at Kuwait airport were greeted by -1 Celsius.

Snow has fallen on some northern Saudi cities .
Riyadh recorded 0 c on the 15th.

A light dusting of snow fell in Baghdad this weekend in what weather officials said was the first time ever. Rare snowfalls were also recorded in the west and centre of Iraq.

In western Pakistan, the hinterland of Balochistan state, rainfall was nearly 6 cms at both Dalbandin and Nokkundi.Nokkundi had a constant temperature of 3c (max. 3c and min 3c) throughout the day on 16th. Quetta got a good soaking, too.

The system now has moved into the eastern parts of Pakistan and into the Indian Himalayas, but surely on a weaker scale.

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