Jeddah was hit by an unexpected sandstorm Saturday while Madinah and the northern areas of the Kingdom experienced rain showers and thunderstorms. Riyadh also witnessed a very strong sandstorm on Friday evening according to motorists.

The city was enveloped in a cloud of dust caused by the strong winds, hampering visibility and bringing traffic to a halt on the Makkah-Madinah highway though the situation was better in the city owing to buildings.

Zaheer Ahmed Khan, a motorist traveling from Jeddah to Madinah told Arab News that his fellow travelers faced strong windy weather, dust and rain along the way making it difficult to drive owing to poor visibility.

A PME (Presidency of Meteorology and Environment) report said that the weather forecast indicated thunderstorms in Madinah, Hail and areas of the northern border, Tabuk, Al-Jouf, Al-Baha, Asir and Makkah.

The high winds triggered a dust storm resulting in low visibility in several areas in the Kingdom including the western and southern regions such as Riyadh, Qassim and the coastal areas.

Temperatures in Jeddah peaked at 33 degrees Celsius with the minimum at 24 degrees and humidity reached 80 percent. Visibility was slightly over 3 kilometers in Jeddah in the morning but the winds subsided by Saturday afternoon.

According to the PME the wind direction was Northwesterly from 15-38 km/h in the eastern, northern, south and southwestern parts of the Kingdom.

The dust storm that hit Jeddah on Saturday however did not have any impact on air traffic.

The PME forecast strong winds and thunderstorms accompanied by poor visibility for Sunday in the cities of Madinah, Hail, Tabuk, the Northern Border, Al-Baha, Asir and Makkah and in the southern parts of the Kingdom, Riyadh and Al-Qassim.

The wind speed on Sunday is expected to be 15-38 km/h northwesterly in the northern and central parts and south to southwesterly over the southern parts with maximum temperatures in Jeddah scaling to 35 degrees Celsius and the minimum at 24 degrees.