DOHA: Some areas in the country may continue to witness intermittent rains accompanied by thunder until 11 this morning, a weather forecaster told this newspaper.
Until 5.30pm yesterday, heavy to moderate rains lashed several parts of the country, including Doha. Some areas in Doha received heavy showers.
By early last evening, Al Ruwais in the north had witnessed the heaviest downpour of the year, with a forecaster saying records showed 25mm rainfall.
In Laqwairiya area, the rainfall was heavy (upto 23mm) until early last evening.
The average rainfall in Doha was 6mm until 5.30pm, according to the forecaster.
In some areas such as the Old Airport locality, rains started since 10am and continued intermittently until late in the night. Many parts of the country, especially the low-lying ones, including several places in Doha, witnessed waterlogging. This prompted municipality workers to rush to the main roads particularly, emergency rain water draining teams with tankers fitted with water draining equipment.
All the seven municipalities in the country had already been on alert. They were prepared for the emergency arising from the rain because the weather bureau had forecast unstable weather earlier last week.
The bureau had said that rains may lash the country on Thursday and yesterday and the situation may last until Monday evening.
It began raining in several areas of the country including Doha a little past midnight on Thursday. The weather bureau had said that the weather may stabilise by Monday.
A forecaster, meanwhile, said that rains may stop after 11am today. The routine weather forecast released by the bureau for until 6 this morning warned that rains accompanied by thunder may continue in some places. It forecast high northwesterly winds moving at speeds of 12 to 22 knots and later to even 30 knots inland, while offshore northwesterly winds may move at speeds from 15 to 28 knots. Strong winds are likely offshore and the sea is forecast to be rough with waves, at times, rising at places from five to nine feet today.
Visibility will be affected early in the morning, and could be as low as two kilometre or even less at places. Later in the day, the visibility will improve to four to eight kilometre, said the weather bureau.
Day temperatures are forecast to drop today, particularly in Doha, which usually experiences relatively high mercury levels.
The maximum temperature forecast this morning in Doha is 19 degrees Celsius (until 6am) while at night (last night) the temperature was 16 degrees C.
The minimum temperature forecast today is between 14 degrees C (in Messaieed, Al Wakra and Dukhan) and 17 degrees C in Abu Samra. The maximum temperature forecast is between 25 degrees Celsius (Abu Samra) and 19 degrees C (Doha).
In other places of the country, the maximum temperature will be 20 degrees, said the weather bureau in its routine forecast.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning was coordinating with Ashghal in different areas of the country yesterday to remove logged water from the main roads, in particular.
On its official twitter account, the Ministry of Interior, meanwhile, cautioned motorists to be careful and not drive with hazard lights or high beam lights on while it rained. It also asked motorists to drive slowly to ensure safety.
The Peninsula
