Ramesh Mathew

Strong winds, backed by slight to blowing dusty conditions are on the cards across the country Thursday, according to the Met Office.

The offshore sea would be rough, volatile and may go up to 14ft at times during the day.
The average height offshore could be anywhere between seven and 11ft but the conditions may be slightly better in the inshore sea, where the maximum height expected is 5ft.
Chances are that northwesterly winds may lash at 30 knots inshore at times while offshore winds would be even stronger, at 35 knots or even more.
The forecast is that the visibility in many parts of the country may fall to 3km or less owing to blowing dust at times. However the average would be in the four to eight km region.
Cold conditions are likely to be in place late in the evening. It is expected that Abu Samra and some places of the western areas would continue to remain the coolest in the country, with temperatures of 10C.
The northern areas like Ruwais, Al Khor and surroundings too would remain more cooler compared to Doha, where the day's maximum could be around 24C.
The maximum and minimum in the other places, namely Mesaieed (23C and 14C), Wakrah (23C and 14C), Al Khor (23C and 13C), Ruwais (20C and 16C) and Dukhan (20C and 15C).
There was hardly any problem for the traffic movement in the earlier hours on Wednesday compared to the previous day on account of improved visibility. However, owing to extremely cooler conditions in the offshore areas less fishing vessels ventured out, inquiries found.