A sudden sandstorm has blown into Qatar this afternoon, catching those enjoying the pleasant weather off-guard and reducing visibility on the roads.
According to the Qatar Meteorology Department, the dust will continue blowing until at least this evening.
On Twitter, the MET said visibility has fallen to less than 600m, and urged caution on the roads:
آخر صور الأقمار الاصطناعيه للغبار .. نتمنى لكم السلامة pic.twitter.com/Jw2CA2kkyd
— أرصاد قطر (@qatarweather) January 8, 2015
The quick onset of the sandstorm appeared to confuse some residents, following three consecutive mornings of foggy weather:
@Amr_Phoenix @dohanews @qatarliving @QatarHappening @iloveqatar @TimeOutDoha Ooh I thought it was Fog! My Bad..
— HABY हाबी ഹാബി Øابى (@habyjj) January 8, 2015
While forecasters predict clearer skies tomorrow and throughout the weekend, expect another shift in weather, as temperatures plummet.
After a relatively warm week, Steff Gaulter, senior meteorologist for Al Jazeera English, told Doha News that the thermometer could fall from 19C (66F) to as low as 14C (57F) at night.
That’s the coolest weather we’ve seen thus far during the winter.
Have the fog or dust affected your plans? Thoughts?
wow nice
I really wish they had traffic and weather reports here on the radio stations as they do in other big cities. Frustrating heading out on the roads only to find out Salwa is backed up for 10 kilometers or going to the Corniche to walk and then seeing a huge dust storm roll in unexpectedly (both today). Even Doha News Twitter didn’t put out a warning about the dust storm. Also, during weather events like the fog or dust, would be great to tell people to *stay home* unless they need to go out – too many joyriders here (some very young drivers!) when they don’t need to be on the road and they’re usually going too fast/driving reckless for the conditions. While I am complaining, why do police allow people to take the on ramp to Salwa if it is backed up forever? Just block off the ramps, why feed more vehicles into the mess, you’re just adding hours of frustration for all of us. OK, I feel better now…back to your regularly scheduled program.
We didn’t know there was going to be a dust storm, but did tweet when the MET *said that it was approaching.
Right! I completely agree with you: it would be wise to tell people to stay at home during these sandstorms – or duststorms. Especially for young and old people, who can have respiratory problems.
And it would be great to be informed also of the levels of pollution, concentration of fine particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) for example, since Qatar is one of the most polluted country of the world. You can be sure that during duststorm like this, there is a lot of toxic dusts and heavy chemicals in the air.
Average PM2.5 pollution: 92 ug/m3
With a population of 2 million people and growing, Qatar also faces increased pollution from its high rate of construction and busy air traffic making it the second most polluted country in the world.
Source: WHO (2014).
Is that really true?? I had no idea it was no 2 in the world!?!?
Get me one of those dust masks…