UAE residents are braced for heavy rain and high winds over the Eid Al Fitr long weekend, with thunderstorms also forecast.
The National Centre of Meteorology on Tuesday forecast “rainfall of varying intensity” across parts of the Emirates, from Saturday, March 21 until Tuesday, March 24.
Eid Al Fitr – the religious festival which heralds the end of Ramadan – is expected to begin on Friday. Its exact date will be determined when the country's moon-sighting committee convenes on Wednesday.
The UAE has already announced that public and private sector employees will be granted paid leave in honour of the occasion from Thursday. The holiday will extend to Saturday or Sunday, depending on when Eid begins.
The weather bureau's online map shows cloudy skies and light rain in store in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and the Northern Emirates on Thursday and Friday. Heavy rain is forecast across the country on Saturday in the bureau's latest five-day bulletin.
Winds could reach 40kph, which could pick up dust and limit visibility, over the Eid break.
Unstable weather
Global forecasters are also predicting a chance of rain, and some storms, for the UAE over the same period.
“There is a good chance for showers and thunderstorms across the UAE from Saturday into Tuesday,” Jason Nicholls, lead international forecaster at AccuWeather, told The National on Monday. “Some of the thunderstorms can be strong.”
Mr Nicholls said the chance of rain is due to a trough of low pressure higher up in the atmosphere. He predicted “isolated showers or thunderstorms” on Friday.
In its five-day bulletin issued on Tuesday, the National Centre of Meteorology also warned of a chance of rain in parts of the UAE every day this week until Saturday.
Major rain last swept through the UAE in December, when Ras Al Khaimah was hit by more than a month of rainfall in a day.
The April 2024 storm caused widespread disruption across the Emirates, flooding roads and houses and hampered travel.
