Oman weather: Dust winds lower visibility, advised motorists caution

Muscat: Royal Oman Police urged motorists to drive safely as heavy dust winds are blowing across northern parts of Oman, posing a serious threat to them.
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“The dust wind was a threat to us on the road. Traffic was slowed. Everyone had to be more cautiously while driving,” Mohammed Faisal, a taxi driver in Ruwi, said.
Royal Oman Police has also urged motorists to drive safely as rains are approaching.
Read also: Flash flood alert system to be installed soon
Visibility warning
The Oman Meteorology Department (Met), in its latest advisory, has warned of poor horizontal visibility during thundershowers, dust and fog formation on Tuesday. According to the Met, current wind speed in Al Saniana of 26 knots could reach 43 knots.
“In Fahud it was 26 knots, Liwa it was 20 knots and in Sohar it was 19 knots, it could reach 32 knots,” the Met tweeted.
The department has also predicted rain, thundershowers, fresh wind and hail over the governorates of Musandam, Al Buraimi, North Al Batinah and Al Dhahira, which may extend gradually to the governorates of Muscat, South Al Batinah, Al Dakhliya, South and North Al Sharqiya and parts
of Al Wusta.
Cold front
A cold front was predicted to bring the return of rainfall by Tuesday in a few locations in Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), according to a meteorologist from Accuweather.com. Rain is expected in the range of 25 to 50
millimetre (mm).
While these storms are not expected to pose as much of a flooding threat, compared with previous storms between March 7 and March 10, isolated flash flooding
is possible.
The greatest threat for thunderstorms in Muscat will extend from Tuesday night, through Wednesday and into Wednesday night. It will not rain this entire time; this is when rainfall is most likely.
Flash floods
While flooding may not be as severe as earlier in the month, any flash floods could be deadly. Water levels in normally dry rivers could quickly rise, even if it is not raining at your location.
As the cold front responsible for producing these thunderstorms moves out of the region later in the week, dry weather is expected to return by Friday.