Oman weather: Sandstorm in Nimr, heavy rain in Salalah

Muscat: Vehicles were damaged and thrown away from the roads as heavy winds struck different parts of Salalah.
Sandstorm in Nimr
A huge sandstorm blanketed Nimr in Marmul and Dhofar areas, some 900kms from Muscat, for hours on Wednesday.
“All of a sudden it started at around 12:30pm. It was quite scary. We all stopped work and ran for shelter. I have not seen such a huge sandstorm,” a worker at a camp in Nimr told the Times of Oman.
According to the worker, high wind continues to blow in the area.
“We all are remaining inside,” the workers said.
Oman Meteorology Department had issued an advisory during the morning about dust and sandstorms for Qarn Alam, Thumrait, and Muqshin.
At around 2pm, in a tweet, the department said that dusty winds with speeds of 24knots had hit Haima, 30knots in Duqm and 27 knots in Thumrait.
Meanwhile, Bader Ali Al Baddaei, an administrator at www.rthmc.net, a local web-based forum that discusses weather in Oman, told the Times of Oman that heavy rain fell in different parts of Salalah in the afternoon.
“Roads were flooded and wadis were overflowing. Traffic was disrupted in some parts, too,” he said.
In its latest report, the Oman Meteorology Department has also predicted cloudy skies will be seen over coastal areas of Dhofar Governorate and adjoining mountains, with intermittent drizzle.
“There are mainly clear skies over the rest of the Sultanate, with chances of medium and high cloud advection over most of the Sultanate and chances of convective cloud development and isolated rains, along with occasional thundershowers over the Al-Hajar Mountains and adjacent wilayats,” the report added.
Meanwhile, Jason Nicholls, a senior meteorologist at AccuWeather, predicted storms in Oman beginning on Wednesday.