Rare landspout outbreak in UAE
A rare landspout outbreak occurred in the United Arab Emirates on the afternoon of Wednesday, October 23, 2024, leading to multiple landspouts forming between Kadra in Ras Al Khaimah and Al Khudaira in Sharjah.
Landspout spotted between Ras Al Khaimah's Kadra and Sharjah's Al Khudaira, UAE, October 23, 2024. Image credit: Mohammed Al Marzouqi
Multiple landspouts were reported in the southern portion of Ras Al Khaimah, between Kadra and Al Khudaira in Sharjah, on the afternoon of Wednesday, October 23.Â
Several people captured the incident on camera, which rapidly drew attention. Dust swirled across the horizon, creating a spectacular sight reminiscent of a tornado.
“The landspout that formed yesterday attracted a lot of attention, especially with videos and photos being circulated, which might have made it seem like a tornado. However, it is different from a tornado,” the National Centre of Meteorology (NCM) referred to one of the landspouts that caught widespread attention.
In this example, the landspouts ejected dust and sand into the air, resulting in the whirling effect shown in the amazing video below:
A landspout is a type of non-supercell tornado that forms over land. Unlike typical tornadoes that are usually associated with powerful rotating thunderstorms called supercells, landspouts develop from the ground up and are not linked to a rotating mesocyclone in a storm. Instead, they form when rapidly rising air encounters surface-level vorticity (small-scale rotation near the ground), stretching it vertically to create a funnel.
Landspouts are often weaker than typical tornadoes, generally producing winds equivalent to those of an EF-0 to E-F1 on the Enhanced Fujita scale. However, they can still cause localized damage to buildings, vegetation, and vehicles. Because of their formation mechanism, landspouts are harder to predict, typically occur in fair-weather cumulus clouds, and can appear suddenly.
They are often observed in regions with strong surface heating and wind convergence, which creates favorable conditions for these brief and narrow tornado-like formations.
References:
1 UAE: Videos of ‘tornado-like’ storm go viral; NCM clarifies landspout ‘not dangerous’ – Khaleej Times – October 24, 2024
2 VIDEO: ‘Dust tornado’ spotted between Ras Al Khaimah’s Kadra and Sharjah’s Al Khudaira – Gulf Today – October 23, 2024
3 A Tornado Precedes the Rainy Season in Ras Al Khaimah – Emirates 24/7 – October 24, 2024
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