Emirates Meteorology Blog

Well, we had a few summer thunderstorms today. Our summer thunderstorms usually form over the west side of the mountains and today was not an exception. However, the storms today were unusually more powerful, larger, and lasted for a longer time. I attribute that to the additional moisture we have been getting from the Arabian Sea.

Anyway, one particular hailstorm was the weather maker on Friday Jul 17 at or around 12Z. It has produced heavy rain, strong winds, and hail. It was so strong that thunderstorm resulted in a sandstorm that travelled westward to Dubai. It’s ironic that somewhere in this extremely hot and humid weather there was an area with 21c temperature and rain.

… Continue reading Powerful Summer Thunderstorms Hit Central NE UAE »»»

There are two ways to tell whether the peak of summer has arrived. The common way is when temperatures go really high. But there is another way that I like more and is less conventional. For me the peak of summer in Arabia (or the UAE) is when easterlies take over, clouds from the Arabian sea cover the Eastern third of Arabia, and tropical thunderstorms or rain cover Oman (I’m not talking about cyclones). It is as if the Indian Monsoon is extending to the Arabian Peninsula. But this doesn’t happen every summer or every July. In fact during July 1995 a similar event happened and Sharjah recorded 53mm of rain ! This was unusual since we are more accustomed to summer rainfall being restricted to mountaineous areas only.

Now something similar “MAY” happen during the next few days (specifically between July 17 and 20). The GFS model has been predicting rain over NE Oman and the surrounding areas. Sometimes the model has also been predicting some rainfall over the Empty Quarter, parts of KSA, and even Eastern UAE. Please be aware the newer issues of GFS model forecast might indicate a different story. Please use the GFS links on the leftside bar of this page for quick access to GFS precipitation forecast.

Precipitation forecast (see 1st panel for next 7-day rainfall).

I think the only countries that seem to have a good chance of seeing some … Continue reading Tropical Intervention over Easternmost Arabia? »»»

At the farthest point in SE UAE, the temperature (at the time I’m writing this sentence) is 49.2c with 1.2% humidity in “Um Azimul” station at 4:29 PM. That is a typical desert killing formula considering that soil temperature is 41c which makes walking barefoot a completely HOT experience. I’m wondering if somewhere nearby it is more that 50c or whether the same station reported higher temperature between 12 and 2PM.

… Continue reading Talk about Extreme Desert Heat »»»