Rain here produces a reaction rather like snow does in Southern California.

“Oh, cool! Come over and look at this! Wow! … Hey, wait. … This is not comfortable to be walking around in. I don’t have the right clothes. And it might even be dangerous to drive in …”

It rained real rain today in the UAE. And snowed a bit in the mountains of the northern emirates.

And it was really amusing, for about 10 minutes.

It rained off and on most of the day. To the point that it impacted just about everything that goes on here — where the sun shines 363 days a year. (Unofficial stat.)

And The National pulled out the stops.

Here is the picture gallery, showing the flooding and the gawking and the leaking roofs and the rest of it that goes on here when something like half an inch of rain falls, from Ras Al Khaimah to Dubai to Abu Dhabi.

And here is the video.

Here is the inevitable story on traffic accidents, and there were many. The UAE has the same issues as does SoCal, when it comes to rain and highways. The water comes down so rarely that oil/sediment builds up on the roads, creating a condition where water sits atop the road, and hydroplaning becomes likely.

But people here have even less experience driving in rain, so they are at a greater risk.

And here is the story about flooding and leaky roofs, because nearly every roof here is leaky, though it may be a year or two before we find out. (Here is a post I did two months after we arrived, during a big rain, before we were in our first, tiny apartment, and we went down there and found an inch of water on the floor. Of course we did. Because the roof leaked.)

And here is the second story about remembering to drive carefully, in the rain.

And here is the photo of the lightning strike at the top of the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building.

Rain. What a concept.