Dubai: Residents woke to overcast skies and light-to-moderate rain in coastal areas such as Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sharjah on Friday morning.
Showers started pouring over Abu Dhabi, Al Bateen, Dubai, and Sharjah at around 8am Friday, according to the UAE Met Office.
Ajman received its own light showers at 4am while Al Qalaa, Dalma and Al Jazeera had light rain at 1am.
Ghayathi and Jebel Dhanna on the other hand received moderate rain.
The National Centre of Meteorology and Seismology (NCMS) warned the public that unstable weather is affecting most areas of the country, resulting different intensities of rain, fresh to strong winds, and rough to very rough seas on Friday.
* Check the Gulf News 10-day weather forecast here
pic.twitter.com/gMKc5k0CbS — UAE WEATHER (@NCMS_media) April 1, 2016
Heading out to sea for a swim is discouraged as wave height onshore could reach up to 3ft to 6ft while offshore could reach 8ft to 12ft in the Arabian Gulf.
The Oman Sea will be roughly the same with minimum wave height of 2ft to 4ft but reaching a maximum 6ft onshore and 8ft to 12ft offshore.
The weather instability is due to an extension of a low pressure in the surface and trough in the upper air.
But this case is likely to weaken and decay on Friday night until Saturday, a forecaster told Gulf News.
Here is a a bit of advice this wet Friday morning. Stay in bed! #dubairain pic.twitter.com/YICC4jwngt— Lovin Dubai (@lovindubai) April 1, 2016
Based on the satellite monitoring on the NCMS’ website, the rain clouds are covering the whole coastal areas of the UAE from the western tip in Al Sila to Al Ruwais, to the cities of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah, and Ajman.
We advise drivers to take extra caution when #driving on wet roads for their and other's #safety
#UAE #Rain pic.twitter.com/zNYWGxb3EG— بلدية الشارقة (@ShjMunicipality) April 1, 2016
As of 8am, the clouds are packed with rainwater enough to give a drizzle to light rain, and possibly moderate rain if the clouds further develops during the day.
Strong winds that kick up dust are expected where there is cloud activity especially for towering or rain clouds, resulting in reduced visibility.
Ras Al Khaimah’s visibility went down to 2,000 metres at 2am Friday.
Wet weekend 🌧 #burjkhalifa#downtowndubai#TFMOTT#cloudy#dubailife#farmersmarket by rubixqueen #TFMOTT pic.twitter.com/68R5hObuLc— The Farmers Market (@farmersmarketme) April 1, 2016
The good news, however, is with this wet weather, temperatures are expected to drop by 6C to 8C bringing the average temperatures to 25C to 35C.
Saturday forecast
Forecasters have said that while most the country will be sunny, there are still chances of scattered rain on Saturday, although the chances are low.
The cloud activity that affected coastal areas on Friday will move further inward on Saturday over some internal and southern areas during daytime, said weathermen.
In general , Saturday’s weather will be perfect for outdoor activities as it will be breezy and windy with some sun coming through high clouds.
Temperatures will be in the mid-20 degree Celsius and mid-30 degree Celsius.
Swimming in the sea is still not advised as the Arabian Gulf remains rough to very rough with three- to six-foot waves onshore and eight- to 10-foot waves offshore. The Oman Sea will be rough with wave heights reaching a maximum of six feet onshore and 12 feet offshore.
