Muscat – Wilayats in North Batinah and South Batinah witnessed heavy rains over two days with more expected in large parts of the sultanate on Wednesday as a low pressure causing the current weather disturbance weakens and moves to Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

According to the Directorate General of Meteorology, there are chances of rain of varying intensity and occasional thundershowers in the governorates of Muscat, North Sharqiyah, Dakhliyah, North Batinah, South Batinah, Buraimi, Dhahirah and Musandam on Wednesday. ‘The coastal areas of Dhofar and the adjoining mountains will experience intermittent drizzle and isolated rains.’

Jason Nicholls, lead international forecaster at AccuWeather, said the weak low pressure that brought flooding rains to Karachi will continue to produce showers and thunderstorms in southeast Iran, Oman and the UAE into Wednesday. “Thunderstorms can reach Qatar and adjacent parts of Saudi Arabia on Thursday.”

The Met Office stated that heavy rains were witnessed in several wilayats of South Batinah – Rustaq, Al Awabi, Nakhl, Wadi al Ma’awil, Barka and Mussanah – on Tuesday as a direct impact of the weather disturbance experienced in the sultanate.

In North Batinah, the wilayats of Sohar, Saham, Liwa, Shinas, Suwaiq and Khabourah received moderate to heavy rains on Tuesday.

Over two days – Monday to 4pm on Tuesday – Jabal Akhdar received the highest rainfall (59mm), followed by Barka (53mm), according to data compiled by the rain monitoring stations of Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources.

In this period, Liwa received 46mm of rain, Sohar 42mm, Shinas 40mm, Samail 38mm, Rustaq and Ibri 37mm, Al Hamra 21mm and Nakhl 20mm.

Rain resulted in several overflowing wadis, including Al Ad, Al Harbi, Al Hajir, Stal, Al Hamam, Al Abyad, Ain Al Thawra, Bani Heni, Al Hoqain, Bani Ghafer and Al Midan.