Over the past few days, the UAE has been hit with an extreme level of humidity — even by the often-gruelling summer conditions that residents have become accustomed to. Air laden with water vapours blew in with the northwesterly winds that raked over the sea earlier this week and drove up humidity levels in the process. Dr Ahmed Habib, a meteorologist at the UAE’s National Centre of Meteorology, said the intense humidity is expected to continue for the remainder of the weekend. While humidity percentage levels will drop slightly by Sunday, he said conditions would remain typical to what is expected from a UAE summer. “While the maximum temperature in recent days has only been 46°C, which is not as high as some July temperatures of recent years, the humidity is higher than normal because of a northwesterly wind,” said Dr Habib. “It will last throughout the weekend but after that there will still be extremely high humidity, particularly in the west of the country.” Humidity levels are predicted to reach 99 per cent in some parts of the country — particularly coastal areas — this weekend. Temperatures will peak at 43°C in Dubai and 42°C in Abu Dhabi but both will feel up to 49°C, according to Accuweather.com. The level of humidity in Abu Dhabi will increase overnight on Friday, maxing out at 73 per cent. Humidity levels in Dubai will be a little lower with a weekend peak of 64 per cent on Saturday night. The weather will be even more extreme in the Northern Emirates, where conditions are typically milder, with humidity reaching 99 per cent on Friday evening in Fujairah. Temperatures in the emirate are expected to reach as high as 42°C on Friday with a real feel of 44°C at night. Saturday ought to be slightly cooler in Fujairah with a top temperature of 33°C — though it will actually feel like 43°C — but humidity levels will continue to soar as they reach 98 per cent in the evening. Local forecasters expect the sky to be partly cloudy at the weekend but mentioned the possibility of convective clouds forming and leading to rain in some regions of the country. Light to moderate south-easterly to north-easterly winds are expected across the UAE on Friday, with a speed of 45kph. On Saturday, winds coming from the same direction are expected to reach speeds of 40kph.
