Qatar experiences moderate to heavy rains, strong winds

Moderate to heavy rains were recorded in various parts of Qatar for several hours from late on Monday, accompanied by strong winds. While the northern region experienced heavy rains and hail, several other parts of the country, including Doha, received only scattered to moderate rain.

Thundery rain was observed in northern areas such as Shamal and Ruwais along with strong winds. According to Qatar Meteorology Department, total amount of rain reached about 45ml in the early afternoon Tuesday. Social media is abuzz with videos of heavy rains in the northern parts of the country as well as the rough and turbulent waves in the sea.

The Met department said that thundery rain accompanied with hail was observed at several parts of the northern region. By evening the department said that there could be thundery rains along with dusty winds mainly northeasterly to northwesterly with high speed.

Meanwhile, other parts of the country received moderate to scattered rain. In addition, most parts of Qatar experienced very heavy winds and the seafront areas witnessed very rough and turbulent sea with very high waves lashing the shores. However, most parts of Doha had only scatted rains and the traffic was normal with no major incidents. The city had overcast conditions most of the time during the day.

With the Eid holidays coming to an end, it was expected that all the students would start their academic session from Tuesday. However, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education had warned about the adverse weather conditions and instructed educational institutes to provide classes online for the day.

Financial institutes such as the banks worked remotely with most branches closed for the day and only select branches, mostly in malls, functioned.

Various parts of the region have been experiencing heavy rains for the last several days. Parts of Oman, the UAE and Saudi Arabia witnessed very heavy rains resulting in several causalities.