2 weeks of winter left, says NCMS

Residents have two weeks more to enjoy winter before spring begins mid-March and with it, the gradual rise in temperature.

The UAE may witness another round of wet weather over the next three days before the season changes to spring later this month and winter officially ends.

The vernal or spring equinox for the northern hemisphere this year will begin on March 20, marking the end of winter and the start of spring.

“Spring will run another three months before summer starts on June 15. So in the next two weeks this March as the season changes, we will see temperature fluctuations depending on the winds affecting the country,” a forecaster from the National Centre of Meteorology and Seismology (NCMS) told Gulf News.

North-westerly winds bring with it a drop in temperature by about 2C to 3C. But if it’s the south-easterly to southwesterly, an increase of 1C to 2C may be noted. But in general, a gradual increase of 2C to 3C, sometimes reaching 4C, may be witnessed in the first month of spring

Average temperature will reach the 30C mark. The average minimum temperature from 2003 to 2015 was at 20.9C while the average maximum temperature for the same period is at 27.2C, based on an NCMS climate report.

Extremes could also happen. Based on NCMS climatological statistics, the extreme maximum temperature peaked at 42.9C at Al Jazeerah border in March 2003.

This week, the rain forecast is due to a low pressure over the Arabian Gulf, resulting in partly cloudy skies in general, with a chance of scattered morning showers, before clearing out in the afternoon.

Dust or sand blown due to moderate winds in exposed areas may reduce horizontal visibility.

The relative humidity will increase during night and early morning over inland areas with probability of mist/fog formation.

Fog formation is quite common in spring. The total maximum number of foggy days was recorded in 2010 at 15 days, accompanied by 4 days of light fog.

The Arabian Gulf will be rough on Monday and Tuesday while the Oman Sea will be moderate becoming rough at times

source : gulfnews