Low visibility affected the traffic flow during Saturday’s sandstorm in Jeddah.

Dust carried by heavy wind gusts on Saturday swept Jeddah and surrounding areas. Strong southerly winds blew at the speed of 50-60 kmph reducing visibility for most of the day. Heavy winds continued into the night.

Low visibility slowed down traffic in the city. Motorists on the Haramain Expressway faced difficulties in particular. The weather had been normal early in the morning. But from 9 a.m., dust started hovering over various parts and the storm intensified later.

Mohammed Al-Amrai, weather forecaster from the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME), told Arab News that this marks the beginning of the summer season and that this will continue for two to three days.

The situation improved in the evening with the wind speed dropping to 15-30 kmph, but in the afternoon it was 40-50 kmph. “There is chance of dusty weather on Sunday with northerly winds blowing around 50 kmph in the morning, but in the evening the weather will ease up,” said Al-Amrai.

He said the unstable weather reduced visibility to 2 km in regions around Tabuk, Madinah, Makkah and coastal areas of Jeddah with 25% humidity, 27°C minimum temperature and 37°C maximum.

He ruled out rain in Jeddah in the coming days, but said there are chances of medium to heavy rains with thunderstorms in Al-Jauf, Northern Borders Region, Hail, Qassim, Tabuk, western parts of Riyadh and northern parts of the eastern region.

Most parts of the Kingdom will be cloudy to partly cloudy with a possible drop in temperatures.

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