weather « Khaled rambles

January 27, 2011

Jeddah Rain Videos and STC slowness

Filed under: News — Tags: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, weather — Khaled A. @ 6:29 pm

Quick post, I can’t really post anything else thanks to the slow Internet speed.

First of all, it rained heavily in Jeddah yesterday January 26th. Unfortunately it was chaotic and thanks to twitter (tag #JeddahRain) people managed to help each other.

I have compiled a playlist on youtube that you can find here:

Today, Thursday, every STC Internet connection (DSL and 3G) is slow to a crawl! Mobily and others are fine apparently. Not sure what caused it but it’s most likely had something to do with JeddahRain.

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December 13, 2010

Riyadh Sandstorm [December 13th 2010]

Filed under: News — Tags: Riyadh, weather — Khaled A. @ 1:58 pm

Here’s a photo taken minutes ago by Faisal for a sandstorm over the city of Riyadh.

Probably not as bad as the March 2009 Riyadh sandstorm.

By the way, make sure to follow @RiyadhWeather for important updates regarding Riyadh Weather.

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June 14, 2010

5 year old child died stranded in a van in Dammam

Filed under: News — Tags: dammam, Saudi Arabia, weather — Khaled A. @ 1:58 pm

This is tragic. From Arab News:

DAMMAM: A private van driver faces charges of criminal negligence following the death on Sunday of a five-year-old girl who was left unattended for five hours in the vehicle in the full glare of the sun outside the International Indian School in Dammam’s Al-Raka district.

The kindergartener, Fida Haris, started attending the school only two months ago. Authorities allege the driver forgot to ensure she came off the 15-seater van when he dropped off other children at the school in the morning. Ostensibly the child dozed off and remained inside the van, which had tinted windows.

On a day when mercury reached 47 degrees Celsius, school officials said Fida apparently suffocated inside the vehicle. “Her body had turned pale because of lack of oxygen and the intensity of the heat,” said her class teacher Gita Radhakrishnan. “It was a horrible sight.”

Read the rest on Arab News.

This is probably the first recorded death in 2010 caused by heat in Saudi Arabia. We’re not even in July.

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May 3, 2010

Riyadh Rain news on Twitter with #RiyadhRain (Update)

Filed under: News — Tags: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, weather — Khaled A. @ 6:54 pm

It’s raining heavily in Riyadh at the moment and everyone twitter has agreed to use the following twitter hashtag #RiyadhRain. Since the old media has failed covering this.

ArabCrunch is the first to report about this. Keep an eye on RiyadhRain for updates as well.

I also made @RiyadhRain and curating some of the tweets as best as I can.

Update: Ahmed made this post with an updated set of videos.

Update: Jihad Alammar have made this page with auto refresh as well as this form to request help. Here’s a list of these help requests for volunteers.

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March 1, 2010

Sandstorm alert in Riyadh on March 1st

Filed under: News — Tags: Riyadh, weather — Khaled A. @ 11:54 am

Last year’s Sandstorm was a big one, and apparently there is another one heading to Riyadh as we speak!

According to Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME)‘s early warning page (there is no English warning page, so you might as well go out?): A sandstorm is approaching Riyadh and Horizontal visibility of 1 meter!

تحذير رقم(2)من الساعة(10:30)صباحا الى الساعة(12:30)ظهرا ليوم الاثنين الموافق 15 ربيع الاول 1431ه شبه انعدام فى مدى الرؤية الافقية حيث تتدنى الرؤية الافقية الى اقل من (1)م بسبب العوالق الترابية على المناطق((الشرقية – الرياض – القصيم ))….لذلك يجب اخذ الحيطة والحذر.

Schools have already started sending students home. Hope everyone will be safe.

Image from American Bedu.

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May 25, 2009

Saudi Arabia in the summer could reach 60C (140F) degrees

Filed under: General — Tags: Riyadh, weather — Khaled A. @ 12:18 pm

60 Celsius (140 Fahrenheit) degrees are used to cook rare steak. Hmmm.

Head of the physics department in KFUPM Doctor Ali Alshikri said that the temperature over Riyadh and the Eastern Province will be “HOT HOT HOT” and could reach up to 60 degrees Celsius (that’s 140 Fahrenheit) between 11a.m. to 2p.m. This will happen in 26 days (21st of June 2009).

I hope you have summer plans away from Riyadh.

From Riyadh Newspaper.

Update: Oh look, I’m on GlobalVoices.

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May 21, 2009

The effing weather

Filed under: General — Tags: funny, weather, websites — Khaled A. @ 2:18 am

Warning! Strong language! This is the best way to check the weather, with F-bombs. As expected, Riyadh is always %^#@ING HOT. It’s just a funny website. Hope you have a good laugh. (Via Daring Fireball).

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