MORE KRAZY Kuwait Weather....

Northwest of Kuwait City

(Thx to Dana for sending this to me!)

Friday evening around 6pm, Kuwait was suddenly crippled by an intense sandstorm. It was very fast-moving, unpredicted and caused some major damage. The news agencies are reporting that it is one of the strongest sandstorms to ever hit Kuwait and that it has been confirmed to have killed one person and 4 others are still missing from the Gulf. It knocked out some of the phone lines, the power lines and in some areas even the water lines.

Kimberley and I had taken the ferry to Failaka Island for the day and had just docked back at the Marina about 15 minutes before the sandstorm hit. When we disembarked the ferry, we noticed the sky looked kind of funny and people were gazing north towards downtown Kuwait City. It just looked like another regular dust storm floating in like they normally do. There was an odd tinge to the clouds, but it didn't seem out of the ordinary for this time of year. I took a pic and then we walked to the mall and grabbed something before quickly walking out.

You can see it in the distance and we assumed it was just the regular clouds of dust that tend to move in SLOWLY and blanket Kuwait....we had no idea this was a massive sandstorm rolling in.

As we were about to about to leave, we walked across the glassed-in foot passage that runs over Gulf Road and went to the main Marina Crescent entrance doors. At the top of the escalator that runs right down to the main doors, we were stopped by clouds of billowing dust pushing through the doors. People were flying in through the doors, kids were crying and there was a general feeling of panic amongst all those there. All the smoke alarms went off due to the very thick and heavy dust and we were forced to move back inside the main mall. They weren't allowing anyone to leave. The sky quickly turned from dark brown to black as night. We moved into the innermost part of the mall, but it didn't take long before the dust filled it up and people were having to breathe through scarves. We bought scarves at H&M and sat down to wait out part of the dust that was filling the mall.

Us looking stylish in our scarves....attempting to keep the gross dust out of our lungs. You can see it in the background and settling on the floor. The mall was a mess to say the least!

I was sent A LOT of pics from my girls and have pulled some of the best ones to post on here for those of you back home in Canada to see just what this thing looked like. Enjoy all the pics!

Both of these show what a nice day it was before this came in....thx Latifa! :)

It's quickly engulfing the houses!

A lot of my students were stuck in their cars while on their way either to or from the malls. Here's a couple of pics from Noura who was in the car trying to get home when it hit.

Looking out the front.....

And off to the west......kinda scary with the black clouds!

These next pics were shot in Fahaheel by Noor who was outside enjoying the beautiful weather! There was no warning except for the ominous bank of clouds peeking over the top of Al Kout. Thx Noor!

This last pic is not Noor's, but was taken from the same place. Check out how people are just sitting around and still watching it as it comes over the building and blacks out the evening sun!

This looks like it was taken down by where we were at the Marina......I love how there are guys just standing there and watching it instead of running for cover.

Before........

.....5 mins after!

Inside the mall........the security was freaking out because they weren't sure what exactly to do with all the people now stuck inside the mall and all the dust that was filling it up. They said that this has never happened before and they simply were scratching their heads over what course of action to take!

This was from our vantage point in while were sitting in H&M. It's hard to see all the dust.....but there was a lot of it!

This is the glassed-in footbridge across Gulf Road 2 1/2 hours after the sandstorm hit. Still super dusty inside.

Sand on the floor inside the mall....

This is a pic of the inside of another huge mall in Kuwait - The Avenues

After having had to stay inside the dust filled mall for 2 1/2 hours, we decided to chance it and go out to find the car. Of course this was the ONE time I decided to park outside......any other time the car would have been in the underground parking. We left the mall and as soon as we were outside, the exfoliation began! The storm was still raging, though not nearly as bad as it had been a couple hours earlier.

This is what we walked through to get to the car....we were coated in the fine sand but the time we reached it!

My poor little car.......all dirty!

The windshield......looking out.

Driving along Gulf Road.......the gusts of sand reminded me so much of the winter blizzard white-outs back home! LOL

The strong winds bent the metal sign!

The sandstorms are super awesome to watch and experience, at least for this Canadian girl! ;) However, the clean up afterwards is always a gong show as the orange dust gets EVERYWHERE!!!! Fortunately (and I have no idea how this happened as I left my a/c on and my windows don't even close fully, let alone seal..) my apartment was untouched by the orange dust! Gillian's apartment was really bad with everything being coated in a thick layer of dust and Kim's bathroom and kitchen were pretty dusty. Here's the proof!

The floor in Gillian's apartment......

The back courts of our school had their sunscreens all ripped down because of the high winds.

Kim's shower.....

Looking out the windows of our building......thx Claire!

Looking down on our cars and Ala'a having just washed them all off and cleaning off the tiles......so muddy! Thx Claire for this shot too! :)

I put a bunch of clips together from our "Sandstorm Experience" so here it is! LOL, enjoy! :)

Krazy Kuwait Weather!

Hailstones on the ground after the crazy hailstorm on March 10th!

(Thx Nouf!)

It has been raining for the last week......that's right, I said RAINING! And not like a sprinkle here and there, I mean actual downpours. They are quick and sporadic, but they have been constant for the last 5 days and are still happening. Thunder and lightning has been a constant for the last week too! Because this weird weather system seems to have remained socked in over this tiny country, the clouds have been pretty low and the lightning and thunder has been low as well. With every deep boom, things shake and rattle and the thunder rolls seem to last a long time. It sooooo nice, as it reminds me so much of home! :)

Seeing as I am used to the crazy thunderstorms and thunder cells that spawn all kinds of windstorms and tornados that roll across the flatlands and foothills of Alberta, this is such a welcome sight and sound! :) Man, how I miss the summer storms we used to always get! Ok, maybe not the damaging hail that blew out all the north facing windows, shredded the vinyl siding and damaged the roof of my brother & sister-in-law's house one time, but definitely the light shows that illuminate the expanse of Prairie sky! Many a day have I wished for a good old storm to blow in....

And boy did I get my wish the other night! I was awakened at 3am to bright flashes of lightning, loud crashes of thunder and a very heavy downpour of rain that slammed against my window. I got up to make sure my apartment wasn't flooding (the lame seals on my apartment windows dry out from the intense heat during the rest of the year and then leak if ever there is any build up of water) and was startled as something really hard hit the window. I think I may have jumped back a good foot! It quickly turned into a loud barrage and I realized it had to be hail, although it sounded like large rocks. I was honestly thinking that my windows were going to smash out and was standing there quickly attempting to formulate a plan of action in case they did, as I live 10 floors up. It lasted maybe 5 minutes before the hailstones became much smaller and slackened their barrage on my windows. I looked on the ledge and there were large chunks of the hailstones, but no full ones. I opened the window and looked down at the ground and could CLEARLY see them. They had to be pretty big for me to be able to see them so clearly!!!! One of my kids sent me this picture of the size I'm pretty sure we got in Hawalli for those 5 minutes. Literally the size of Christmas oranges!!! Yeah, imagine those hitting your windows! All these pics are from my girls - thanks for all of them, girls!!! :)

Ridiculous size, yet that's what hailed down.......thx, Raneem! :)

The remnants on the grass....it's winter now, so yes there are patches of grass

that grow because of the nice weather! (Thx Raneem!)

Pic from another part of Kuwait where they were much smaller, but lots!

This is a rare site for this country! :) (Thx Dalal!)

And some more.....(Thx Nouf!)

Today, I went downstairs (I'm usually stuck up on the third floor all day...in the ONLY classroom on this campus that does not have a real window that opens to the outdoors) and had to cross the open courtyard to get to the other building that houses our cafeteria and Middle School classrooms. As it was STILL raining and there are gaps in the sun screens, I got a little wet crossing the courtyard and was surprised by the chilly breeze! I was struck by the smell and the cold chill in the air. For just a few seconds I closed my eyes and felt like I was back home. The Kuwait air for a brief moment smelled and felt like the spring air in Canada! It was surprising to say the least, as it almost always smells like the dust of the desert. (Yes, dust has a smell and it's gross!) All of this "crazy" weather will be over soon, but I hope everyone is enjoying it and "soaking" it all in! LOL Very soon the dusty air will return and the sun will begin heating everything up to extreme temperatures, as all that is green fades away.