Dubai International Airport was closed for a short period Tuesday and a number of flights were cancelled as numerous jets on the ground looked more like puddle jumpers plying the choppy waters of the tarmac.a historic storm dropped more rainfall than the area has seen in at least the past 75 years, with parts of the city of Al Ain south of Dubai receiving over 25 cm of rain in less than 24 hours. By some accounts that’s over twice the amount of rain typically received there in an entire year.
The event lines up with two worrying and seemingly contradictory trends. Like many other arid countries, the UAE is seeing a long-term decline in annual rainfall so far this century. Ashowed a decline in annual rainfall since 2003 compared to the long-term mean. At the same time, extreme weather anomalies like this week’s flooding are on the rise in the region and around the world, it seems.