Oman weather: Tropical storm passes Sultanate

Muscat: Oman dodged a bullet as a tropical storm passed the Sultanate heading to the African continent.
After intensifying over the Arabian Sea, the storm, otherwise known as a deep depression, passed the Sultanate on a collision course with Africa.
“There won’t be any effect from the storm to the Sultanate and we expect that, going to next week, there won’t be any rain,” said a representative from the Department of Weather Forecast, at the Directorate General of Meteorology.
“If it hit the Sultanate, we would be experiencing heavy rain,” he added.
December to January is usually the time Oman faces heavy showers however we might not expect any rain this year.
An official at the Studies Department, Directorate General of Meteorology said the Sultanate will not have rain anytime soon and that it is normal.
Last year in December and January the Sultanate faced heavy showers but this year is different depending on the weather according to the official.
“It is actually quite normal. There are periods in a year that there won’t be any rain, like this year in December,” said the official.
“It depends on the air waves; last year there was a lot of rain in December but this year there isn’t. It’s perfectly natural where in one year you will experience heavy rain but will not get anything the year later,” he explained.
Tropical storms typically have winds speeds of 34 knots (63 kph) to 63 knots (116 kph) couples with heavy rain which usually floods Omanis streets and creates devastating wadis.