Muscat faces high humidity; Met says summer yet to arrive

Muscat: The first few days of April have been described as hot, even as many wonder whether summer has arrived already.

Meteorologist Ibrahim al Barashdi from Oman Met Office at Civil Aviation Authority explained that it is not the temperature that has gone high; but the humidity level that makes them feel hot.

“The humidity was as high as 90 per cent in Muscat during early morning and at night. The maximum temperature recorded has been 32 degrees Celsius in Muscat and is expected to go down to 21 degrees at night,” he noted.

Oman Met Office has also indicated that there are chances of low clouds and fog formation on Tuesday in parts of the governorates of South Al Sharqiyah and Al Wusta and the coasts of the Sea of Oman at late night and early morning.

“But in Muscat, it will be mist,” said the meteorologist. Humidity in Muscat ranged between 15 per cent to 90 per cent, while in Salalah, it ranged between 25 per cent and 80 per cent.

Maximum temperature was recorded in Fahud and Haima at 40 degrees Celsius with a minimum of 24 and 22 degrees Celsius, respectively. The coolest place was Saiq, with 24 degrees maximum and a low of 14 degrees Celsius.

Meanwhile, areas around Al Hajar Mountains are experiencing rains which is expected to continue for two to three days.

Mainly clear skies are expected over most of the governorates with advection of high clouds with chances of convective cloud development and thundershowers over Al Hajar Mountains towards the afternoon and chances of late night to early morning low level clouds or fog patches over parts of South Al Sharqiyah and Al Wusta governorates and parts of Oman Sea coastal areas.

Along Oman Sea coasts, winds are expected to be northerly to northeasterly light to moderate, and over the rest of the Sultanate of Oman, it will be southeasterly light to moderate, occasionally fresh along Arabian Sea coasts.

The sea state is forecast to be moderate over the coastal areas of the Arabian Sea with a maximum wave height of 2.0 metres while slight over the rest of the coastal areas with maximum wave height of 1.25 metres.

The weather experts have cautioned that visibility may reduce during fog formation.