Confluence of warm and moist winds ‘Kaus’ and colder and drier winds ‘Shamal’ have resulted in severe sandstorm, lashing several desert countries including Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh and Qatar during the weekend.
Strong winds also whipped the fire, which had engulfed 86-storey residential skyscraper in Dubai on Saturday. However, no casualty was reported as densely populated apartment was successfully evacuated. Although, strong winds had hindered firefighting operations as flaming debris fell from the tower to the ground.
Reportedly, it is the tallest residential skyscraper in the world, measuring 1,150 feet high.
The slow moving system is now moving eastwards and will be affecting North Africa in next 24 hours. This will cause sandstorms over Tunisia, Libya and Egypt with winds gusting upto 50 kmph to 80 kmph. As a result, the visibility is also expected to drop significantly up to 100 meters, especially in Egypt.
Last week, the system had caused unprecedented rain and snow across Turkey, causing flood like situation. Another fierce sandstorm had also lashed across parts of North Africa and eastern Mediterranean affecting life and property in the region. Winds reached up to 100 kmph that engulfed the Middle East region causing widespread inconvenience in major cities.
The storm was made up of dust traveling from the depths of Sahara Desert in North Africa and was triggered by a strong low pressure system moving through the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Winds from the periphery of the system pulled both sand and dust from North Africa towards Egypt and then eastwards.
