As the high humidity Qatar residents felt over the weekend abates, strong winds are once again expected to swirl across the country over the next few days.
In a statement, the Qatar Meteorology Department attributed the latest northwesterly winds to the deepening of the Indian monsoon. It forecast wind speeds of up to 30 knots (56km/hr) on Monday, adding:
“The wind is expected to be loaded with dust and blowing sand, which will reduce the horizontal visibility especially in open area and highways.”
This summer has been a particularly windy one in Qatar, a problem in the desert country that is under constant construction, due to the sheer amount of dust that gets blown around.
Last week, visibility got so low on the first day of Eid that the Ministry of Interior announced the temporary closure of the Al Khor Coastal Highway.
According to Steff Gaulter, senior meteorologist at Al Jazeera English, winds will be at their worst in a couple of days, before retreating a bit.
Winds in #Doha become northwesterly tonight and get stronger over the next few days. So, not humid, but very windy, especially Tuesday.
— Steff Gaulter (@WeatherSteff) August 2, 2014
On the bright side, temperatures are expected to hover between 38 to 43C (100 to 108F) during this week, with scattered clouds over Doha on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, the MET said.
Thoughts?
