Sandstorm sinks Bahrain

A dust storm hit many parts of the Kingdom yesterday, disrupting normal life, with wind speeds reaching over 32 knots at the Bahrain International Airport. However, no loss of life or major damage to property was reported. Reports said many areas in the Kingdom experienced strong gusts reaching around 38 knots at times with authorities warning that the adverse conditions are expected to continue throughout the weekend.

“The wind is expected to continue blowing over the Kingdom throughout the weekend,” Khalid Yaseen, Head Weather Forecasting, A/Chief, Meteorological Operations and Observations told Bahrain News Agency (BNA). According to Yaseen, the dust storm was caused by a very strong North Westerly winds as predicated by Bahrain Meteorological Directorate.  “This will lead the temperature to decrease to around 12 degrees Celsius,” he said.

He added: “Wind speed will decrease temporarily by early next week, but it will strengthen again by mid of next week.” Yesterday afternoon, Yaseen said, a wide area of thick dust generated over the northern parts of Arabian Peninsula due to high wind speed has moved towards Kingdom along with the North Westerly winds causing the visibility to deteriorate to less than 500 metres. The dust is expected to thin out today and the visibility will improve gradually, he said.

Earlier yesterday, Bahrain’s Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications tweeted that very strong North Westerly winds are expected to affect the Kingdom, with dust haze. The ministry also urged citizens to exert extreme caution as visibility is expected to reduce to less than 1000 meters.

Satellite images, according to the Ministry’s twitter account, showed intense dust movement with high-speed. The report further said that the dust intensity is expected to come down as the winds continue. The meteorological directorate has asked all citizens especially sailors to be cautious during the period as the sea is expected to get rough.