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Dust envelops Doha in this picture taken from the fishing jetty on the Corniche. PICTURE: Jayan Orma


Strong winds that lashed Doha and other parts of the country in the past few weeks have left a blanket of dust all around. Even though the winds have calmed down the dusty atmosphere lingered on yesterday.

This will continue for the next three days and the situation is more or less similar in the other Gulf countries, according to an official from the Department of Meteorology. "All the Gulf area is affected by drifting dust from north-westerly winds. Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE are the most affected countries," said the

official.

The Met department has issued a warning on its website of low horizontal visibility today because of dust. "The visibility will be between two and six kilometres but temporarily it will go much lower, as much as 1,000meters or less," the official said. Yesterday, motorists on the highways had to drive at slow speeds due to poor visibility.

The wind will be variable with the north-westerly wind blowing at speeds of eight knots to 15 knots and the south-easterlies having speeds of two knots to 12 knots, reaching up to 16 knots at times. The weather will be hot and dusty at times today, the Met office said in its daily weather forecast.

The temperature will hover around 42-31 degrees Celsius today.

The dusty weather prevailing for the past two weeks has led to a spike in the number of allergy patients in the health centres and private clinics. Many people have been seen moving around the city wearing masks.

Private medical clinics and Primary Health Centers in the capital reported a minor increase in the number of asthma patients whose condition had been aggravated by the dusty winds. Sources also said that there had been a 20 to 30 percent increase in cases of skin allergy caused by the dusty weather. The number of patients with watery eyes and other eye problems also increased.