Job Discussion Forums

[franziska]

I would like to do a stint in the Middle East. Everyone says you can get used to the hot weather..guess I will find out if I get there. I am prepared to go to Oman, UAE, Qatar or Kuwait. Is the climate the same in all? Is any one of those countries less hot than the others. Which is the windiest? Cloudiest? (I have heard that it's blue 365 days a year in Qatar for example) Thanks

[veiledsentiments]

All of the Gulf has pretty similar weather. The summer lasts from April well into November with days from 40-50C. Kuwait tends to be the hottest in the summer and the coolest in the winter (you need a heater for a couple months in mid-winter). It is also not as humid since the prevailing winds are usually off the land.

Qatar and the UAE are very hot and VERY humid if one lives on the coast because the prevailing wind is off the sea. Almost all of the cities offering jobs are on the coast. It is sunny for most of the year... some years you have no rain... other years you have some cloudy and dreary spells in the winter. (I believe Doha is on the coast... someone correct me if I'm wrong)

Oman has the most varied climate. Still very hot... not as humid as Qatar or the UAE, but more humid than Kuwait. Inland cities are almost never humid. Salalah gets hit by the tail-end of the Indian monsoons in the summer and gets very misty and green.

Most people arrive in the Gulf in August and are shocked to find that even though they arrive in the middle of the night, when you step out of the airport, you think you have stepped into your oven. If it is a place like Dubai or Abu Dhabi, you will want to look around for the person who just slapped you with the hot steaming towel. It can be quite a shock to the system if you have come from somewhere cool and dry.

I can't recall much difference in wind. To me none of them seemed windy, but I grew up on the prairies of the US where gale force winds are the norm, so YMMV...

VS

I found that it takes a couple of years to completely acclimate and you too will start wearing a jacket when it get below 25C.

[lall]

That was a very crisp description of the climate, VS.

I've lived in Oman and in Bahrain. Bahrain can get humid, since it is such a small island country.

VS, You're right. Doha is on the coast. Haven't lived there for a long time. Have been a holiday visitor.

That "hot, steaming towel" thing would just describe it right for someone from the cool and dry climes, though in my case, the difference isn't much since I come from a port town on the western coast of India.

[ghost]

Away from the coast is much better.

People who have worked in Al Ain (UAE) have told me that the climate is much more pleasant (because it is dry in the desert) compared with Dubai, which is more humid, on the coast.

Similarly, in Saudi, Riyadh (inland and dry) has a more pleasant climate compared with Dharan and Al Khobar (East coast) or Jeddah (West coast).

If you check MSN weather, and type in the cities you are interested in, you will see that the differences in temperature and rainfall vary a lot in the different locations of the regions.

Everyone will agree that hot and humid is not very pleasant to put up with. But, I have not yet been in the region, but would guess that even in the Gulf, the feeling of humidity in the Gulf countries would not be as high as that which is experienced in places in South East and even North East Asia in summer. Seoul in summer is very unpleasant in July/August, with humidity so bad, that last summer, books and other items left in an apartment were all mouldy within weeks. I have also been to Japan in August, and the humidity was awful.

Nice climate would be somewhere like Sanaa, Yemen, but the pay and perks are not quite so high in that country. But lovely climate. Sanaa, is situated at altitude (1800m), which really helps in keeping temps very manageable throughout the year.

I'm also told that Yemen is quite a nice place to live and work, and there are good language schools in Sanaa, for learning Arabic. Al Ain, UAE, also has a good climate, according to reports from teachers there. Very little humidity there.

The Kenyan runners who have changed nationalities and compete for Qatar, never train or live in Qatar, but continue to train and live in Kenya (at altitude outside Nairobi in the Rift Valley).

Similarly, Rachid Ramzi, the world champion runner, formerly from Morocco, but now representing Bahrain, also never lives or trains in Bahrain, but continues to do his training in Morocco, just showing up for races wearing the Bahrain vest.

The fact that those world champion runners never train in their adopted countries, indicates how difficult it is to do any serious athletic training in the Gulf, in most locations, especially for around 8 months of the year.

Looking at the weather stats, most places have quite good conditions from November to March, with average temps in the mid 20's during the day, and cooler at night. But check the stats for accurate details. Climate can be important in choosing a location, and Taiwan was a place I found very unpleasant to work in because of the heat and humidity. The worst was teaching classes right after lunch. That was the real torture session for teachers and students alike.

Ghost in Korea

[Stephen Jones]

Everything depends on where you are in the peninsula. If you are in Abha it will be cold and rainy for much of the year. Get to Dubai and Al-Hasa and you have the hottest summer temperatures in the inhabited world (together with 50-60% humidity). In Riyadh you will need a heater three or more months a year, but it will be boiling most of the year, and warm in the day even in winter; on the other hand it is a dry heat, so if you don't mind a temperature of 110 Fahrenheit you can have pleasant daily walks.

Another thing is that nobody has mentioned dust storms, which are exceptionally unpleasant. Kuwait in particular suffers from them, and they are probably enough of a reason in themselves to avoid the place.

One thing to bear in mind is that the weather is something you don't really experience anyway. You go from air-conditioned car to air-conditioned building.

[veiledsentiments]

The humidity in much of the hot months in the UAE, Bahrain, and likely Doha is worse than SE Asia in the worst of their summers. Many times in the morning I would get up to water pouring down the outside of the windows... and it is NOT rain!! It is just condensation. If you wear glasses, for 6-8 months of the year, when you walk outside, your glasses fog up - something that had only happened to me previously in the extreme winters where I grew up and your glasses would fog when you entered the house from outside.

I did hear of people who came back from summer leave to find their furniture mildewed.

VS

[ghost]

[veiledsentiments]

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[Cleopatra]

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