Dubai has been one of the hardest-hit areas following recent days of torrential rains and powerful thunderstorms in the United Arab Emirates, battering the country. Now, the sky has turned green and theories of an apocalypse are not far behind. The National Emergency Management Committee urged Dubai residents to stay home to avoid risking their lives, as highways and streets are flooded. Rivers, drains, and dams overflowed, and now with the green sky, they are urging the population to stay indoors.
Green skies and apocalyptic storms add to the climate chaos in Dubai. Dubai is underwater and in almost complete darkness due to the green sky that occurred after the rains, which have been described by residents as “apocalyptic,” as they are the worst in the last 75 years, with the heavy rain equivalent to 2 years’ worth of rainfall in just one day.
According to Dubai International Airport records, the rains began this Monday, saturating Dubai’s sand and roads with about 20 millimeters of rain. The intensity of the storms increased on Tuesday starting from 9 a.m. (local time), continuing throughout the day and unleashing even more rain and hail on the city. By the end of the day, more than 142 millimeters of rain had accumulated on the streets in 24 hours.
After the rains on Tuesday, April 16, the sky in Dubai turned green, accompanied by fog, lightning, and intense rain, causing concern and conspiracy theories surrounding the issue. According to local media reports, this is a phenomenon that is usually associated with strong updrafts that form when the top of the cloud is particularly cold, pushing upward air through temperature, humidity, and pressure disparities.
Why Does a Green Sky Form and What Danger Does It Pose?
In other words, the appearance of a green sky is associated with strong updrafts that develop when the tops of clouds are cold or extremely cold. When a storm turns the sky green, it’s often a symptom of a large amount of water and ice within the cloud, indicating a very developed cloud that can produce severe hailstorms. Its color is due to an interaction of sunlight with the storm’s structures (water droplets, ice crystals, etc.). Generally, these types of skies have a reputation for being a threat or a sign from nature about a potentially dangerous disturbance, given the amount of electricity and speed it can reach, coupled with the amount of hail it can cause.
For this reason, a green sky can often be a sign of imminent violent phenomena, but this does not always occur.
This Is How Dubai Stands at the Moment
This story was written in Spanish by Perla Vallejo in Ecoosfera.
