Thursday 26 / June / 2025
Muscat: Locals and expatriates in Oman woke up on Saturday morning to a most pleasant surprise, as Muscat and several cities in the north of the country experienced cool, refreshing rainfall.
Adults had little option but to let their children go out to play in the rain, which brought with it a cool breeze, as it lowered the temperature in the areas that received rainfall by several degrees.
Basheer Al Kiyumi, an Omani national, told Times of Oman, “I was awakened this morning because I kept hearing the tapping sound of water on my air conditioner, and wondered where it was coming from.
“Then I looked out my window and realised that it was raining. My children were already awake and they wanted to go out to play.
“How could I say no to them?” he added. “One of our neighbours had bought tea for all of us, so as we watched our children happily jump up and down in the puddles and dance in the rain, the combination of the hot tea and the cool rains was simply amazing.”
Ashutosh Kumar, an Indian expat, added, “On the weekends, we normally tend to wake up late, but our elder son wakes up early. Today, he woke up and shook us awake and told us that it was raining. At first, we did not believe him and we thought he was just teasing us, but when I woke up, I heard the unmistakable noise of the rain outside.”
He added, “I went outside and inhaled deeply, because the smell you get when the rain hits the ground is truly heavenly. It reminded me of my time back home in India, and when I spoke to my family in India, they did not believe me until I showed them the videos of the rain that I had taken.”
The Directorate General of Meteorology at the Public Authority for Civil Aviation (PACA) had forecast scattered thundershowers in the northern parts of the Omani mainland, as well as the northern Governorate of Musandam.
A statement from PACA said, “The governorates of North and South Al Batinah and Muscat experienced scattered thunderstorms on Saturday morning with active down winds which continued for the next few hours.
“Musandam and North Al Batinah governorates currently experienced sporadic rains and active downwinds with there being continuous movement of thunder clouds with active downwinds over Musandam Governorate in the subsequent hours.”
PACA added that there was a likelihood that this rain would continue until Monday, adding, “There is a continuation of the possibility of cumulative clouds over Musandam Governorate, the Hajar Mountains and the neighbouring governorates to be extended to the coastal areas of the Sea of Oman accompanied by heavy rainfall and varying degrees of thunderstorms, occasional thundershowers and active winds and the falling of hail and runoff during the period from today to Monday.”
According to the monitoring centres set up by PACA, Sohar received the maximum amount of rainfall (36.2 mm), with Dibba in Musandam receiving 29.2 mm. Bidiyah received 25.8 mm, Madha received 22.4 mm and Shinas received 16.2 mm.
Closer to Muscat, Al Awabi received 9.4mm of rainfall, Saham received 5.6mm, Liwa received 5mm, Bausher received 4.8mm, Khabourah received 3.2mm, Bidbid received 3.2mm and Rustaq received 3mm of rainfall.
