Heavy rain and small hailstorms hit Wadi Al Quor in Ras Al Khaimah on Wednesday.
Footage shared on social media showed torrential showers in the northern emirate, causing disruption on the roads.
A weather warning was issued over high winds and dust blanketing parts of the country, with police urging drivers to be vigilant due to poor visibility.
The National Centre of Meteorology said yellow and orange alerts would be in place until 5pm, due to the unsettled weather.
Police in Abu Dhabi warned motorists to be cautious and alert. “Abu Dhabi Police urges drivers to be cautious due to low visibility during high winds and dust. And for your safety and for the safety of others on the road, please do not be distracted by taking any videos or using your phone,” read a message from the force on social media platform X.
Forecasters are predicting parts of the eastern UAE could have rain over the next few days.
The national weather centre said convective cloud formations on Wednesday might lead to downpours.
It also forecast “fair to partly cloudy” conditions on Thursday with a “probability of some convective cloud formation, especially eastward by afternoon” that “may be associated with rainfall”.
It was a similar story for Friday with further chances of rain towards the east.
The centre forecast winds reaching up to 40kph, kicking up dust clouds over coastal and internal areas that could cut visibility on the roads. The UAE's weather is being affected by a low-pressure system from the east, it added.
Rain has fallen in parts of the UAE. Videos posted to Storm Centre, a popular social media channel that tracks the country’s weather, showed downpours in the east, including in Khor Fakkan.
While most of the country is experiencing typical scorching summer temperatures – the hottest on Tuesday was 49.8°C at the Saih Al Salam station in Dubai – rain is not uncommon during these months.
Low-pressure systems drift across from India, which is affected by monsoons around this time, and help to bring rain to the UAE.
This also helps cause the “khareef” phenomenon in southern Oman where the rains turn the landscape green.
The downpours are sometimes severe. In 2022, floods hit swathes of the UAE’s east coast during the summer, with roads closed and homes inundated.
The NCM told The National at the time that it was the wettest July in the UAE since 1978.
Temperatures in Abu Dhabi and Dubai on Wednesday were expected to reach highs of about 46°C and 44°C, respectively, and hit lows of 33°C and 35°C, according to the NCM.
On Thursday, highs of 46°C and 43°C are expected, with lows of around 33°C and 34°C.
The UAE endured its hottest April and May on record this year, but April 2024 experienced the UAE's heaviest rainfall in 75 years.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Key figures in the life of the fort
Sheikh Dhiyab bin Isa (ruled 1761-1793) Built Qasr Al Hosn as a watchtower to guard over the only freshwater well on Abu Dhabi island.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Dhiyab (ruled 1793-1816) Expanded the tower into a small fort and transferred his ruling place of residence from Liwa Oasis to the fort on the island.
Sheikh Tahnoon bin Shakhbut (ruled 1818-1833) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further as Abu Dhabi grew from a small village of palm huts to a town of more than 5,000 inhabitants.
Sheikh Khalifa bin Shakhbut (ruled 1833-1845) Repaired and fortified the fort.
Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon (ruled 1845-1855) Turned Qasr Al Hosn into a strong two-storied structure.
Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa (ruled 1855-1909) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further to reflect the emirate's increasing prominence.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan (ruled 1928-1966) Renovated and enlarged Qasr Al Hosn, adding a decorative arch and two new villas.
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan (ruled 1966-2004) Moved the royal residence to Al Manhal palace and kept his diwan at Qasr Al Hosn.
Sources: Jayanti Maitra, www.adach.ae
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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The five pillars of Islam
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3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
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Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
