Dubai, Feb 26 (Emiartes 24 x 7): Dust and sandstorms have been sweeping across the Gulf for the last few days reducing visibility to near-zero, as this picture in Saudi Arabia shows. (Al Bayan)
The dusty, hazy and near-zero-visibility weather this morning sent social networks into a storm of rumours and scaremongering.

Twitter and Blackberry services were full of warning signs of a cyclone hitting the UAE, heading over from Saudi Arabia.

The National Centre for Meteorology and Seismology (NCMS) warned of a further drop in temperature and a change in wind direction, but there was no cyclone being forecast.

Sand and dust continues to blow across most of the country for the second day in a row on Sunday as traffic was severely affected.

A senior official at NCMS said an update is awaited soon and that the weather would continue to remain stormy for most of the day.

An update on NCMS.ae said, “Wind is southerly at first, then the northwesterly winds will start affecting the western areas, and gradually extend towards rest of the areas, with a fall in day temperatures. Winds will be fresh to strong, especially over the sea and the internal open land areas, causing blowing dust/sand, and reducing the horizontal visibility.”

Meanwhile traffic continues to remain terribly slow on most roads in and around Dubai and Sharjah.

“I was afraid of going to office today. There were rumors of some vehicles having overturned. However I decided to drive and the whole stretch of road from the Academic City was completely covered by dust. The visibility had dropped to less than 100 metres. The wind was so strong that the cars were wobbly,” said Girish Puttan.

The Open Beach in Dubai, although was partially kept open with yellow flag, remained empty for most part of Saturday and Sunday.

“The only souls here are the seven lifeguards,” said Majdi Tag, a senior lifeguard.