Thread by @althecat

Today is shaping up to be a huge day for thunderstorms across the Arabian Peninsula, #NileBasin and Horn of Africa.

#KSA #SaudiArabia #Yemen #Oman #Iraq #Kuwait

#Ethiopia #Sudan #Eritrea #Somalia #SouthSudan #Uganda

#ArabianStorms #DesertRain

Live weather radar of #ArabianStorms across The Arabian Peninsula. /2

Inside the Grand Mosque in Makkah Muslim pilgrims and the @HolyKaaba. /3

A growing thunderstorm is now situated directly over the holy city of Makkah. /4

As we approach the full heat of the day, today’s #ArabianStorms are developing rapidly across the MIddle East.

Note: The storms in Iran, the Horn of Africa, Yemen and Oman are also delivering #DesertRain but as there is no weather radar they do not show up in blue.

Here is eyewitness footage from inside the Masjid al-Haram Mosque. /6

And another eyewitness video, this time from @saleh_alazzaz, whose wonderful twitter feed includes a lot of very beautiful footage of nature in Saudi Arabia, with a slight emphasis on rain and watercourses.

The @HolyKaaba has a special water pipe at the top of it specially for these occasions.

The sun has come back out now in Mecca as you can see in the final image here.