UAE cold snap: forecasters predict chilly weekend

Temperatures to plummet to about 15C at night, with a high of only 23°C on Friday

Visitors should be prepared to put on ome extra layers of they visit the beach this weekend. Leslie Pableo for The National

It might not be time to throw on the thermals just yet — but the UAE is braced for its coldest weekend for some time.

While there is a decidedly sunny outlook for the working week — with a balmy 29°C forecast for Thursday — that will be cold comfort for those wanting to top up their tans during their break from the office.

Temperatures are set to plunge to 23°C during the day on Friday, falling to 15°C at night, before dropping further to 22°C a day later.

Long-range forecasts on the AccuWeather site predict that they will be the coldest days of the year so far, but the lowest combined temperatures for the weekend in the whole of 2019.

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Temperatures are expected to stay in the low-to-mid 20s for the rest of the month, with the prospect of the odd drop of rain, as the UAE's winter season takes hold.

Although the country might not be quite as sun-baked as usual in the next couple of weeks, spare a thought for shivering residents across Europe.

Central and eastern Europe is facing one of its coldest and snowiest Januarys in recent years, with Germany, Austria and Serbia hit by falls of up to three metres of snow that is threatening to cut off remote villages and is shutting down schools and ski resorts across the continent.

Serbia’s state TV said on Friday that six municipalities in the southwest of the country have introduced emergency measures, warning of snow piling up on the roads and sealing off mountain villages.