Saudis share videos of rare snowfall over desert kingdom

Snowy Arabia: Saudis share videos of rare snowfall over desert kingdom

Residents of Tabuk shared jaw-dropping videos of Saudi Arabia's deserts covered in snow.

2 min read

10 January, 2020

Saudis shared pictures of the snow in Tabuk on social media [Twitter/@sorrrq]

Saudi Arabia experienced a rare cold snap on Friday that has brought snowfall to deserts in the northwest of the country.

Saudi residents of Tabuk, near the border with Jordan, shared jaw-dropping videos of the kingdom's deserts covered in snow on social media.

Deserts in Saudi Arabia's north and eastern region saw snow in the winter of 2016, but such an occurence remains rare across the region.

This year's snowfall began on Thursday, EM News reported.

The civil defence directorate in the region launched a comprehensive emergency plan to face any potential risks from the snow, the news site also reported.

Saudi citizens were quick to share their excitement and joy with the cold weather on social media.

One user posted a video of the snow on Twitter, writing: "Can you believe it? This is not Russia, or Italy or Norway."

Another posted an idyllic picture of his village, where two men sat around a fire for warmth from the snow.

Incredible videos of the snow in Saudi Arabia made their way onto social media platform TikTok as well.

The cold spell will remind some of the winter of 2008, which was the coldest in recent memory, with temperatures dropping to -10 degrees Celsius in some provinces, and -5 Celsius in Riyadh.

The average low temperature in the Saudi capital is 11 degrees Celsius this time of the year.

Read more: Can the Middle East afford to care about the climate emergency?

Although these weather conditions are unusual in the kingdom and the Arabian Peninsula, climate change and other weather-related phenomena are making extreme weather the "new normal".

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