The National Center for Meteorology (NCM) forecast the UAE will see partly cloudy weather with formation of cumulonimbus clouds that bring rain to eastern areas and some inland areas starting Monday, April 29. The weather agency posted videos of rain and confirmed light rain across parts of Dubai, Ras al Khaimah, Sharjah and Fujairah.

As the week progresses, a low pressure system will bring inclement weather from the west by Wednesday night, said the NCM. The weather system is expected to extend over most areas of the country on Thursday, May 2.

The surface low pressure from the Red Sea will impact the country, forecast the NCM.

The NCM said the extension of low-pressure system from the north is also expected which will see cloud migration from Saudi Arabia towards the UAE.

The unstable weather conditions expected late Wednesday night will see convective cloud formations, resulting in moderate to heavy rainfall across the country.

Abu Dhabi will experience moderate to heavy rain showers and thunderstorms on Thursday followed by Dubai and Sharjah as the weather system progresses northwards.

The weather agency issued warnings to motorists to exercise caution when driving on roads and highways during inclement weather.

Dubai announced on Sunday that work had begun on a new terminal at Al Maktoum International Airport, which Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President, Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai said will become “the world’s largest” at a cost of almost $35 billion.

“We approved the designs for the new passenger terminal at Al Maktoum International Airport, and (are) commencing construction of the building at a cost of AED 128 billion ($34.85 billion),” Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, said on X.

Once fully operational, the airport will “handle a passenger capacity of 260 million annually”, the government said in a statement.

Sheikh Mohammed said it will have “the world’s largest capacity” and be “five times the size of the current Dubai International Airport”, which is one of the world’s busiest air hubs.
According to Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, president of the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority and CEO of flag carrier Emirates, “the first phase of the project will be ready within a period of 10 years, with a capacity to accommodate 150 million passengers annually.”
Built on the city’s outskirts, Al Maktoum airport has received a relatively small share of the Gulf financial hub’s air traffic since 2010.

Authorities want it to replace Dubai International Airport, which has a capacity of up to 120 million passengers annually and whose city-centre location prevents expansion.

The UAE received the heaviest rainfall on record on Tuesday over a 24 hour period.According to WAM, it surpassed all records documented since the start of data collection in 1949.

The downpour impacted numerous regions across the country.The National Centre of Meteorology confirmed that the record rainfall that fell on the country during the 24 hours until 9 pm on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, is an exceptional event in the UAE’s climate history since the start of recording climate data.The centre said that, so far, the highest rainfall was recorded in the “Khatm Al Shakla” area in Al Ain, reaching 254 mm in less than 24 hrs.

It is noteworthy that the NCM’s Shuwaib station had recorded 287.6 mm on March 9th 2016.

This heavy rainfall is an exceptional event in the UAE that contributes to increasing the annual rainfall average in the UAE, as well as strengthening the country’s groundwater reserves in general.