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The small plane fires salt crystal flares into naturally-occuring overcast skies to encourage the formation and release of cloud moisture into raindrops. Image Credit: Supplied / NCM

Dubai: The rains across the UAE was helped by successful cloud-seeding missions – the first series of missions to have been carried out in 2018.  

Omar Al Yazeedi, director of research and development at the National Centre of Meteorology (NCM), confirmed to Gulf News that six cloud-seeding missions were launched over the last two days.

Al Yazeedi explained that the missions were carried out across the eastern and northern areas of the UAE, in addition to Abu Dhabi city and the western region.

During the mission, a plane enters a cloud and fires salt crystal flares into naturally occuring overcast skies, which encourages the formation and release of cloud moisture into raindrops.  

ALSO READ: How cloud seeding helped increase last week’s rains

On Tuesday, residents across the country woke to a significant decline in temperatures after heavy rainfall the previous night.  

The rainfall also led to a number of flooded roads in the city of Abu Dhabi.

Strong northwesterly winds will continue to blow over the coastal and internal areas, with wind speeds ranging from 18km/h to 30km/h, which may reach as high as 38km/h at times.

In its daily weather forecast, the NCM said that the minimum temperatures expected over the next two days will be 11-17 degrees Celsius in coastal areas, 7-15 degrees Celsius in internal areas, and 5-11 degrees Celsius in the mountain region. 

"The weather will be cloudy to partly cloudy, with a chance of isolated showers along the coast, mainly over the western areas,” said the NCM.

"The relative humidity is likely to increase overnight and during the early morning over some internal areas."

Rough waves are also expected to be very rough in the Arabian Gulf and the Oman Sea.