A hurricane warning circulating Bahrain by email was dismissed as a hoax by weathermen yesterday. The Met office action comes after being inundated with scores of phone calls regarding the hurricane warning.

The bogus alert warns of a hurricane smashing into Oman today, then sideswiping Bahrain on Saturday, bringing thunderstorms, heavy rain and hail.

Saudi, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha would also be hit, according to the email, which purports to be quoting US navy and Arab officials. But it is a hoax and people should ignore it, a Civil Aviation Affairs Directorate of Meteorology spokesman told the Gulf Daily News, our sister publication yesterday.

"The weather is going to be fine by Friday, with light to moderate winds," he said.

"We have had extremely unsettled weather since the first week of this month, but the strong north-westerly winds will ease up by this evening and the dust haze will begin to thin out.

"Bahrain should have fine weather starting from Friday."

The spokesman said this weather was "normal" for this time of the year, due to the seasonal monsoons and the low pressure area centred over Pakistan.

"This is bringing north-westerly winds to the eastern side of the Arabian Peninsula," he said.

As a result, a lot of loose sand is raised which brings a severe haze to the country.

"This phenomenon is called the Al Baarea (40 days shamaal)," said the official.

"We would like to assure the public that such information being circulated through the Internet has no scientific basis," said the official.

The GDN had reported yesterday that high velocity winds, which have sandblasted Bahrain for the last 10 days, were expected to ease by the weekend.

Winds of up to 27 knots lashed the kingdom last Monday but fell to around 23 knots yesterday and are expected to be around 17 knots today.

Extremely bad visibility was again reported throughout the day yesterday, falling to below 1,000 metres at Bahrain International Airport.

A bad weather warning also remained in place for the seventh straight day, as the weathermen forecast strong to near gale force winds and rough seas. Sources said the warning was expected to be lifted today.-TradeArabia News Service