Poor visibility from a violent dust storm caused a 20-car pileup that reportedly killed three people, including a firefighter, and injured 10 others on the Dawadmi-Afif road Monday. The road was closed to traffic because of the sandstorm. The strong winds that hit Saudi Arabia Monday blew down trees, sent plastic bags, paper and dirt from garbage bins swirling in the air and kept most people indoors for fear of contracting respiratory diseases. The winds hit western, central and eastern Saudi Arabia at around 10.30 P. M. with speeds of up to 40-50 kph, according to the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME). Visibility was reduced to 1-1/2 to 2 km as a result of the southeasterly to southwesterly winds, according to PME official Abdullah Abu-Haila, though motorists said they could barely see more than 100 meters of the road in Jeddah. “There is no sign of clouds at the moment but there's a possibility of thunderstorm activity and rain on Tuesday,” said Abu-Haila. “The temperature at the moment is 31.13° C maximum and 22° C minimum in the evening in Jeddah. Humidity is 80 percent and total precipitation is 40 millimeters.” He said there was chance of rain on Monday night and Tuesday with thunder activity in the north and northwest of the Kingdom including Tabuk, Qurayat , Skaka, Arar, Hail, Rafah and the Madinah region. Similar weather is also expected in the Makkah region and the coast between Jeddah and Yanbu. Some clouds will appear over the Central and Eastern parts of the Kingdom, while low clouds will appear over the southwest, the official said. Surface wind will be south to southwesterly in most regions and east to southeasterly in the southern part of the Kingdom, freshening up in the northern and western areas with rising dust which will reduce visibility, he said. Wind blown dust, carrying small particulates of smoke and various chemicals has been linked to respiratory illnesses in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is particularly prone to dust storms since it lacks vegetation cover. Extreme daytime heating of the ground causes the air directly above it to warm up and thus begin to rise. This warm air continues to rise until it meets the higher winds of the troposphere (lowest major atmospheric level) where it mixes in a downward spiral and in so doing causes strong winds at the earth's surface.
