File photo of wind blowing across parts of Qatar. Pic: Salim Matramkot/The Peninsula
Strong winds swirling dust and rough sea hit the country yesterday, lowering visibility at times at places. The strong winds have also bought cooler weather, with mercury dipping relatively. From today evening , the wind direction will change, raising the mercury by a few degrees over the coming days. The northerly blowing at speed reaching up to 25 knots at places reduced visibility to less than 3km at places. Various roads outside the city were shrouded by the swirling dust.
The strong winds are caused by Shamal north-western winds, that are funnelled into the Arabian Gulf from Turkey and Iraq. These winds usually last for two to three days, and are often repeated again after a few more days. Today, the weather will be mild during day with slight blowing dust at places at times, along with scattered clouds. Night will be cooler. The temperatures in Doha will be between 22 and 14 degree Celsius. The maximum temperature will vary between 19 and 21 while minimum temperature will be between 17 to 10 degree Celsius in the country.
The northerly will blow at 4 to 14 knots inshore while off shore it will blow at 15 to 25 knots at first decreasing to 5 to 15 knots. The winds will shift to southerly by evening, according to the weather chart. The current sea warnings will continue until mid day today.
Along with the shift in wind direction, relative humidity is also expected to increase, the weather chart shows. This can cause misty to foggy weather leading to poor visibility in early hours by tomorrow.
By tomorrow, temperatures are expected to increase by few degrees with warmer southern winds. The weather is expected to be hazy to misty/foggy at places, tomorrow, becoming mild by daytime and some clouds. The temperature in Doha is expected to vary between 20 and 16 degree Celsius, tomorrow.
