The UAE’s National Centre of Meteorology (NCM) has warned residents to brace for unsettled weather—dust storms, fresh north-westerly winds and pockets of light rain—from 5 to 8 January. Forecasters say visibility could drop below 1,000 metres in coastal corridors, prompting Dubai Airports and Sharjah Airport to activate low-visibility procedures.
While the advisory is routine for winter, it lands during the busiest outbound week of the year. Dubai International (DXB) expects daily traffic to exceed 300,000 passengers through 11 January, raising the risk of compounded delays should fog and dust converge. Airlines have urged passengers to arrive four hours before departure and use home or city check-in services.
![Dust, winds and light rain forecast until Thursday as NCM issues travel caution]()
Travellers who still need to secure entry permits—whether for the UAE itself or for onward destinations—can avoid last-minute paperwork stress by using VisaHQ’s self-service portal (https://www.visahq.com/united-arab-emirates/). The platform streamlines visa applications, tracks approvals in real time and delivers electronic visas for dozens of countries, ensuring documentation is sorted even if flight schedules shift because of weather.
Companies moving project teams this week should pad journey times by at least two hours and encourage travellers to register for Smart Gate clearance, which cuts immigration processing to under 15 seconds even during weather-related backlogs. Freight forwarders are also planning for potential trucking delays on the UAE-Saudi land corridor if sand-storm warnings extend inland.
While the advisory is routine for winter, it lands during the busiest outbound week of the year. Dubai International (DXB) expects daily traffic to exceed 300,000 passengers through 11 January, raising the risk of compounded delays should fog and dust converge. Airlines have urged passengers to arrive four hours before departure and use home or city check-in services.
Travellers who still need to secure entry permits—whether for the UAE itself or for onward destinations—can avoid last-minute paperwork stress by using VisaHQ’s self-service portal (https://www.visahq.com/united-arab-emirates/). The platform streamlines visa applications, tracks approvals in real time and delivers electronic visas for dozens of countries, ensuring documentation is sorted even if flight schedules shift because of weather.
Companies moving project teams this week should pad journey times by at least two hours and encourage travellers to register for Smart Gate clearance, which cuts immigration processing to under 15 seconds even during weather-related backlogs. Freight forwarders are also planning for potential trucking delays on the UAE-Saudi land corridor if sand-storm warnings extend inland.
