The Doha dust bunny blows no good …

Where I come from, wind is a non-event because it blows most of the time. But in Qatar, when the wind blows hard, it’s big news because it changes everything.

The sun disappears, the COVID-19 masks come out and everyone is just a little more edgy than usual.

All talk turns to the weather in Qatar as visibility is reduced and allergies and respiratory illnesses flare up in parallel with the “very high” Air Quality Index (AQI) ratings.

It’s dust storm time in Doha, Qatar.

Or haboob, as dust/sandstorms are called here.

To be fair, this is only the second time I have experienced a full-blown (pun intended) dust storm in Qatar. And while the wind speed is no worse than a breezy summer afternoon in Gqeberha, South Africa, it’s what gets carried by the wind that’s the issue – DUST, large, threatening quantities of it!

What a dust storm looks like

Since photographs generally do not do justice to this Middle Eastern weather phenomenon, you will have to rely on my word – and my words.

Ordinarily, the sky is almost always blue in Qatar. It’s just the temperature that varies – from 15C to 50C. By April, you know it’s going to be hot (30C-plus), so you don’t even bother looking out of the window.

Imagine my disbelief then when I stepped outside at 7am on Tuesday, 15 April, for a spot of exercise.

It wasn’t, and isn’t, just the drop in temperature, but it’s the strange, ominous colour of the sky. It is as if the sun has been turned off or partially blotted out and the blue sky usurped by a luminous grey imposter. It’s just looks and feels out-of-sorts.

Within minutes you feeI grimy, and there are new crackling noises from the grit under your shoes.

That morning the normally gleaming black tiled steps leading to the club house in our Lego Land compound were covered in dust. The footprints I left were pronounced, but 20 minutes’ later there was virtually no sign of my earlier presence.

You struggle to see far – be it the landmark skyscrapers or even cars on the road – as visibility is dramatically reduced. It’s like looking through fog or misted glass with all clarity gone.

You can’t really see the moving dust, unless you are fortunate to get one of those eerie shots from a movie. But, even so, you know you are in a dust or sandstorm.

And it’s mainly thanks to the shamal winds.

Shamal winds

This time around the sandstorm blanketed the Gulf nations for four days, causing almost zero visibility in some places in Kuwait and Iraq. Qatar was not as badly affected.   

The shamal or northwesterly winds that blow over Iraq and the rest of the Gulf, can occur several times a year, mostly in summer, but sometimes in winter, too.

All my meteorological friends will explain that this wind, gusting up to 70km/h, carries all fine dust in its wake, and since the Middle East is literally one massive sand pit, that’s a lot of sand.

And it’s carried for hundreds of kilometres, too.

No dodging the dust

A single major dust storm can, for example, carry around 100 million tons of dust over several days.

I can believe it since it felt like we personally cleared away a kilogram or three from our ground-floor apartment during those four days!

What’s removed on day 1, is back on day 2, and again on day 3 and so it continues. I decried dust during my domestic goddess days in Qatar, but it’s so much worse during a dust storm.

There is dust everywhere. It covers your hair, face and clothing and creeps into your nose and mouth.

There’s just no dodging it.

But dodge it you must.

Dust health risk warnings

If dust can halt flights and other forms of transport, it can certainly impact your health.

Those with asthma, other respiratory illnesses and allergies really struggle during dust storms.

Clinics and hospitals prepare for an influx of such patients during this time and health warnings are issued in the printed press and on social media.

Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health issues the following safety tips during sandstorms:

• Stay at home unless necessary
• Close all doors and windows
• Wear a mask or use wet tissues to cover your mouth and nose when going out
• Change your mask regularly
• Avoid rubbing your eyes to prevent infections
• Wear protective glasses
• Washing your face, nose and mouth to prevent dust from reaching your lungs, and
• Visit the emergency department if you experience any difficulty in breathing

Iraq reported more than 3000 respiratory-related cases because of the latest sandstorm.

Thankfully, in Qatar, there was no significant rise in serious respiratory cases but an increase in minor car accidents, possibly because of decreased visibility, according to the Qatar News Agency.

But colleagues who found themselves spluttering and sneezing that week put the blame directly on the dusty and windy weather.

Two weeks later and many were still struggling.

Air Quality Index

One glance at the country’s Air Quality Index (AQI) and you will appreciate why colleagues are feeling out of sorts.

The AQI is still “very high” which, in simple terms, means the greater the level of air pollution and the greater the health concern.

An AQI value of 50 or below represents good air quality, while an AQI value over 300 represents hazardous air quality.

Today (26 April), for example, the fine particles are at 116, which is 9.9 times higher than the World Health Organisation PM2.5 (fine particles) guideline value.

In short, today’s weather is “unhealthy for sensitive groups” and we are advised to reduce physical exertion, especially if experience symptoms such as a cough or sore throat.

And yet, all appears normal for Qatar. There’s no wind, the sky is blue, I can see all surrounding skyscrapers, the temperature is 37C and UV is extreme.

Pollution here doesn’t necessarily come in dark industrial plumes of smog and smoke above the cityscape. It arrives invisibly daily – and not just in the dust storms.

Mask memories

But when the Doha dust bunny is at play, we all cover up.

It’s not just those who work outdoors wearing cloth face coverings, or those who wear a ghutra or Sheilah (male and female Qatari headdress respectively) who already protect themselves against the tiny trespassers, it’s everyone.

Out come the COVID-19 masks.

And with these disposable blue masks come an avalanche of pandemic memories.

A déjà vu moment if you like.

Fortunately, the dust storms are over almost as quickly as they arrive.

And while I’d like to say we’re all breathing freely again; I now know that this is not the case.  The dust – those fine invisible particles – is ever present.

In fact, Qatar is presently the 20^th most polluted country in the world, according to IQAir, a Swiss air quality company specialist in monitoring and protection against airborne pollutants.

To be fair, in Qatar, it isn’t just the dust that’s at fault.

There are the pollens that come with the change of season, but also the gas refineries and diesel generators are also to blame.

To be fair, there are various sustainability drives, inclusive of renewable energy efforts, to eliminate the use of fossil fuels.

But there’s no denying that Doha’s dust bunny blows no good for any of us.