The heavy dust storm that UAE woke up to on Sunday continued well into the evening, with most flights out of Dubai being delayed.
A brief glance at the Dubai Airports website showed five delayed and one cancelled flight.
The National Centre of Meteorology (NCM) has warned motorists and sea-goers in the Arabian Gulf against poor visibility.
In a statement today, the NCM said visibility levels might get down to less than 2,000 metres due to heavy dust blowing over some coastal and internal areas until 2 pm today. In an update at 2.08pm, weather bureau said fresh winds and widespread dust persisted in the Arabian Gulf area.
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Weather: Strong winds, blowing dust reduce visibility in UAE
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The National Center of Meteorology (NCM) has predicated dusty and cloudy weather for today. The temperature is likely to increase further. The maximum temperature of 45.4 degree Celsius was recorded at Barakah.
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“Moderate to fresh winds in will blow general, with suspended and blowing dust/sand over most areas, especially over the exposed areas, with poor visibility,” NCM stated.
The sea will be moderate to rough in the Arabian Gulf and in the Oman sea.
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Flights delayed
Several outbound and inbound flights to Dubai were delayed by over 20 minutes on Sunday afternoon, owing to the dust storm and low visibility due to poor weather conditions.
Inbound flights from destinations in Europe, Asia, and other GCC countries were delayed, according to information found on the Dubai Airports website.
The flights began to face delays after 3pm and there were up to 20-minute delays in the departure and arrival of flights at DXB. A statement from an Emirates official confirmed: “There has been no effect on the overall operation, but we can confirm the delays have been minimal.”
EK61 to Hamburg and Malaysian Airlines (MH4525) to Hamburg were reported as delayed. Several Emirates, Qantas, Jet Airways, and FlyDubai flights to Beirut, Mumbai, Kuwait, Zurich, London, Moscow, Jeddah, Nairobi, Riyadh, Prague, Baghdad, and Addis Ababa are also delayed.
Meanwhile, inbound Emirates, Malaysian Airlines, Qantas, PIA, and FlyDubai flights from Amman, Peshawar, Jeddah, Karachi, Yerevan, Khartoum, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Mumbai, Pune, Bahrain, Muscat, Damman, and Kuwait into Dubai were delayed by several minutes as well.
dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com
By Web report  https://www.khaleejtimes.com
