KUWAIT CITY, June 2, (KUNA): Kuwait’s meteorologist, Issa Ramdan said the country witnessed dusty weather conditions Thursday which will continue on Friday due to north-western winds. This in turn will bring down the temperature noticeably.

Ramadan said in a statement to KUNA, wind speeds are expected to be 16-45 km/h, while horizontal visibility is expected between 200-500 meters in desert areas and might reach less than 200 in Abdally, Salmi areas.

Horizontal visibility is expected to be around 2800 meters in Kuwait city.
The Kuwaiti official, added lower temperatures are also expected in coastal areas and its surroundings, however north-western winds accompanied by dust are expected to pickup also on Friday and Saturday.
Earlier on Wednesday Kuwait witnessed a record temperature for this time of the year when the mercury hit 51 degrees Celsius in Abdally, Ramadan said.

Ramadan told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that recorded temperatures increased by 6 degrees, adding that the current heat wave is called “lahoob”.

He added, the old record for highest temperature recorded over the past 50 years at Kuwait International Airport was 50 degrees Celsius.

Over the past two days, temperatures recorded in Kuwait City were between 47-49 degrees Celsius, other monitoring stations recorded unusual temperatures between 50-51 degrees Celsius in the north-west of Kuwait.

Ramadan pointed to that the continuous dry weather as humidity decreased by 20 percent, reaching less than five percent. The unusual heat wave is a result of several factors including the geographic location of Kuwait and the affect of north westernly winds from Zogras Mountains in Iran, “the passing of wind on the plains of Iraq causes more heat and drought in Kuwaiti deserts,” he added.

“The unusual heat wave in the past few days is due to high air pressure in the upper atmosphere in the northern areas of the Arabian Peninsula, moving hot air masses from the southern Arabian Peninsula, causing high temperatures in out region,” he said.

Ramadan added that Kuwait is affected in these days “longest days of the year as more solar radiation by sun rays, which are almost vertical at an angle of up to 84 degrees.” He explained, “such heat waves come to us was during the late month of July and early August, but the change in the weather seems clear in recent years, which requires great preparation for such climate changes expected in the Arab region in general.”

Also:
KUWAIT CITY: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) announced on Thursday that air traffic was moving normally in spite of the bad weather the country Thursday.
Head of operations at Kuwait International Airport, Essam Al-Zamil told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that the movement of aircraft arriving and departing at the airport was normal.
Authorities have halted marine navigation due to low visibility caused by a sand storm gripping the country, the Kuwait Ports Authority announced on Thursday.
Suleiman Al-Yahyia, in charge of marine operations at Al-Shuwaikh Port, said in a statement that the halt in the movement of vessels to and from the Kuwaiti ports was necessary for the safety of the ships and the piers.
Visibility has been reduced to half a mile which hampers the navigation, he explained.
He, however, confirmed that the navigation will resume once the weather improves.
Sea operations at Al-Shuaiba port were also stopped due to the same causes, said Faraj Al-Saeed, director of the marine operations at the harbor.
He also noted that the visibility had reached less than a mile which paralyzed the navigation.
Saeed added that the rescue and emergency teams are on full alert to deal with any emergencies and to help resume navigation once the weather improves.