Residents were greeted with thick fog and road safety warnings on Thursday morning as visibility was reduced across most of the Emirates.
Dubai Police reminded motorists to "stay focused on the road, reduce your speed, & maintain a safe distance" in order to avoid accidents in the poor driving conditions.
According to the National Center for Meteorology, visibility was due to improve after 10am.
The lowest temperature recorded overnight was 9.9°C in Ras Al Khaimah.
Temperatures for Thursday are expected to reach highs of 29°C in Dubai and 28°C in Abu Dhabi, with lows of 21°C and 20°C respectively.
Humidity will increase in the night into Friday morning with more fog or mist formation possible across all parts of the Emirates and light to moderate wind.
On Friday, temperature highs will drop by a degree in each Emirate, with the lowest temperature dipping to 11°C in the southern most part of the country. Humidity will rise again in the evening and into Saturday morning.
For the weekend, it will be partly cloudy and temperatures will continue in the high 20s, before cooling on January 1.
Abu Dhabi and Dubai will both ring in the new year with highs of 26°C and lows of 21°C and 19°C respectively. Skies will be clear to partly cloudy in general with more cloud cover at times over some coastal and Eastern areas.
The alternatives
• Founded in 2014, Telr is a payment aggregator and gateway with an office in Silicon Oasis. It’s e-commerce entry plan costs Dh349 monthly (plus VAT). QR codes direct customers to an online payment page and merchants can generate payments through messaging apps.
• Business Bay’s Pallapay claims 40,000-plus active merchants who can invoice customers and receive payment by card. Fees range from 1.99 per cent plus Dh1 per transaction depending on payment method and location, such as online or via UAE mobile.
• Tap started in May 2013 in Kuwait, allowing Middle East businesses to bill, accept, receive and make payments online “easier, faster and smoother” via goSell and goCollect. It supports more than 10,000 merchants. Monthly fees range from US$65-100, plus card charges of 2.75-3.75 per cent and Dh1.2 per sale.
• 2checkout’s “all-in-one payment gateway and merchant account” accepts payments in 200-plus markets for 2.4-3.9 per cent, plus a Dh1.2-Dh1.8 currency conversion charge. The US provider processes online shop and mobile transactions and has 17,000-plus active digital commerce users.
• PayPal is probably the best-known online goods payment method - usually used for eBay purchases - but can be used to receive funds, providing everyone’s signed up. Costs from 2.9 per cent plus Dh1.2 per transaction.
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Global Fungi Facts
• Scientists estimate there could be as many as 3 million fungal species globally
• Only about 160,000 have been officially described leaving around 90% undiscovered
• Fungi account for roughly 90% of Earth's unknown biodiversity
• Forest fungi help tackle climate change, absorbing up to 36% of global fossil fuel emissions annually and storing around 5 billion tonnes of carbon in the planet's topsoil
