KUWAIT CITY, April 17: The erratic weather conditions Saturday morning is typical of the Sarrayat season which occurs between April 14 and May 17 every year, says Musaed Al Hamad, Head of Al Mirzem Laboratory.
The weather expert was talking to the Arab Times Saturday explaining the heavy dust and rain conditions in the morning.
The unpredictable nature of weather is a characteristic feature of this season, he added. “On Saturday dusty conditions, rain clouds and heavy wind occurred simultaneously. The dust and clouds created total darkness, reducing visibility to zero between 08:00 and 08:30 hours.
The winds lashed at average speeds of 75 kmph in the city, and 120 kmph in the outer reaches. The dust emerged at around 5:30 am in the morning, and then the rest of the phenomena followed. The rains lasted for nearly an hour and a half.
The Sarrayat occurs in two phases. The first phase lasts from April 14 till May 1. The second phase begins a few days after the first phase and goes on until May 14.


KUNA adds:
Kuwait witnessed roaring gales that soared to 120 kmph early on Saturday, meteorolgist Issa Ramadhan said.
The country was affected early today with dense clouds that triggered strong winds. followed with dust storms, causing sharp drop of visibility to less than 200 meters, he told KUNA.
The gales were mostly strong in the northwestern parts of the country where they were recorded at 120 kmph, he said, adding that the northern Al-Abdali region recorded the highest level of rain, 36 mm, a third of the year’s rain volume.
Ramadhan cautioned that the weather might remain unstable later today and tonight, with possible scattered rain and low visibility.


The weather will start improving gradually on Sunday night, with the winds to start transforming northwesterly, to be accompanied by hanging dust. Major improvement is expected on Monday, however some desert regions would witness dusts, due to proceed till Tuesday.
He cautioned that these “Sarrayat” winds pose a danger particularly to fishermen.
Traffic at Kuwait International Airport has gone back to normal after a short grounding of planes due to unstable weather conditions earlier Saturday morning, said an airport official.
The airport’s Director of Operations Essam Al-Zamel told KUNA that arrivals and departures were halted from 7:30 am to 8:15 am (local time) and all incoming planes were diverted to Saudi’s Dammam International Airport.
He said that two Kuwait Airways flights coming from Dubai and Dhaka were diverted to Dammam, but said that they had been rescheduled to arrive in Kuwait in about an hour. - Arab Times