Salalah welcomes Khareef with first rains

SALALAH: The long wait for Khareef seems to be over as Salalah and its adjoining areas received rain on Saturday.

There were heavy clouds with mist and drizzling in most parts of Salalah from Saturday morning till late evening giving an indication that in the coming days monsoon will settle and footfall of tourists will increase.

From sporadic rains in few places to rain like situation everywhere is an indication that the monsoon is becoming active day by day.

The monsoon is covering the coastal areas, the mountains in the east, west and even the plains of Salalah and its adjoining areas.

The rain has come as a big relief from the high humidity that was building for over a week.

The drizzling which began early Saturday morning has been continuing for many hours now.

Reports of drizzling accompanied with moderate rain were received from suburbs and areas like Dahariz, Sada, Awqad, Itin and Raysut remained under the impact of misty weather conditions for the whole day.

Temperature in Salalah ranged between 26 and 30 degrees Celsius, while cloudy conditions continued for the whole day.

Weather charts suggested similar weather conditions for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, and further drop in temperature from Wednesday on wards because monsoon impact is likely to be intense in the days to come.

Khareef is when Salalah turns into lush greenery. The pre-monsoon rains helped bring greenery in some parts and the visitors who took advantage of the extended weekend were lucky to have good weather conditions in Salalah.

“It was a pleasant surprise to us as we chose to come to Salalah from Muscat. It was a huge respite from scorching heat in Muscat. Humidity was very high in Salalah when we landed, but the very next day it rained and weather changed drastically,” says Gorge, who is on a visit to Salalah with his wife and daughters.

Civic bodies, hotels and other hospitality stakeholders are geared up to receive the guests. The city has been decked up and regular monitoring is being done at all the tourist sites in Dhofar, which are under the impact of the monsoon season.