fog in Dubai Archives - Circles in the SandCircles in the Sand

At 6.45am this morning, I peered outside our bedroom window to see the everyday familiar sights of our street draped in a silky mist; the villas, carports and road hidden from view by a dense, semolina-souper, surely the worst fog of the season so far.

By 7.30am, we’d ventured into the whitened haze, on our way to school. Cars loomed into view at the last second, like images from some half-forgotten dream. Son2 was on the edge of his seat with excitement, loving the inclement weather (beats the continual blues skies in his opinion) and rolled down his window hoping the swirling vapour would enter the car.

“Are we driving in the clouds?” he asked, as I almost closed my eyes with anxiety (I wasn’t at the wheel!). You could just about see the white line marking the lane, but the upcoming roundabout, roadworks and drivers who incredibly had forgotten to put their headlights on were totally obscured by the thick fog. We were driving blind, literally.

This was a relatively clear patch – elsewhere it was white-out and planes had to circle for up to two hours

“It’s Dubai’s Achilles’ heel,” remarked DH, because when the fog is this bad, the delays at the airport ricochet all around the world for hours afterwards, affecting tens of thousands of passengers (hopefully the problem will be alleviated this summer, after work is carried out on the runway to upgrade the lighting).

Later on, as the fog lifted, it felt like we were in a blue movie as the sunshine filtered through the wispy mist, burning it off to nothing. I breathed easily again – both children were safely in school and we had a busy day ahead, ending with the Eric Clapton concert tonight.

Then DH’s phone rings. It’s scheduling. He’s not meant to go to work until tomorrow, but due to the fog and all the delays, he has a car coming to pick him up in 45 minutes. My best-laid plans scuppered by my DH being sent to the end of the world (New Zealand).

Darn fog.

Still, the lucky recipient is my Dad! My parents are staying, and he’s agreed to come with me to the concert. Rock on, Dad!

When we woke up this morning, Dubai was draped in a silky mist – which might sound romantic, but in fact makes for a craaaazy, almost heart-stopping start to the day.

Eerie: Dubai shrouded in early-morning mist. Thanks to @Linda_FB’s hubby for this great photo, taken this morning

If you could stay in bed and just look at all the photos going round Twitter it might actually feel cozy, but for most of us, the early-morning fog that blankets the emirate at this time of year is greeted with an inward groan.

I peered out the window and could just see the main road, but knew immediately what the fog meant: numpties forgetting to put their headlights on, despite two-metre visibility; drivers going too fast; and turning their hazards on (creating more confusion).

The school bus got lost in our compound, flights were diverted to Saudi and mums were tweeting to say they’d got to school, but couldn’t see it. The fog was so dense just outside our compound, it was like driving in a blizzard, in the desert (weird!).

Since it was patchy, there were long clear stretches on the way to school, but then I’d hit another wall of fog and feel my grip on the steering wheel tighten. As it lifted and the sky came into view, I felt like I was in a blue movie with the sunshine filtering through the wispy mist.

On the upside, fog like this signals a change in season – that cooler weather is on the way, for which we’ll all be grateful. Early yesterday morning, I found myself taking a second glance at the temperature reading on the car: 24 degrees, it beamed. Well below 30. Hurray!