KUWAIT: Dense fog blanketed Kuwait for several hours early on Sunday, greatly reducing visibility to less than 100 meters, which disrupted air traffic at Kuwait airport and diverted an unspecified number of flights. The Met Office said a big drop in temperature and a steep rise in humidity triggered thick clouds of blinding fog that made driving highly risky.
According to the Met Office, temperature in Mitribah near Abdaly in the north dropped to 10 degrees Celsius at dawn on Sunday, while the temperature in many desert areas was between 10 and 13 degrees Celsius. This was accompanied by relative humidity rising to above 90 percent in several areas, leading to thick fog.
The Met Office said Kuwait is expected to experience lighter fog in the early hours of Monday, but heavy fog is expected to return on Wednesday and Thursday. The thick fog continued from 2 am until around 10 am. Visibility was reduced to less than 100 meters in many areas including Kuwait International Airport, where flights were suspended and incoming flights were diverted to neighboring countries, according to a spokesman for the civil aviation department.
A large number of flights were delayed for up to nine hours and passengers were stranded at Kuwait airport. Later in the day, air traffic returned to normal, but airlines were still dealing with the delayed flights until the evening. The interior ministry issued advisories to motorists to drive carefully, as visibility dropped to nil in some areas. The ministry did not report any major accidents or casualties.
