The temperature reached -3 degrees C on Friday and remained at 1 degree on Saturday.
It is the 'winter' season here in the UAE, with showers and thunderstorms these days. We have seen hailstones during this season in previous years, and there has been one incident of snowfall in Ras Al Khaimah. But this weekend was the first time that anyone ever saw snow covering the mountain peak of Jebel Jais, and an area of 5 km around it.
Here's what a snowfall in the Arabian desert looks like:
Pictures are courtesy Gulf News (with due credit intended for the photographers) and WAM.What does this mean, snowfall in desert mountains? Meteorologists are talking about condensation and rain drops freezing due to cold air currents. Boring, isn't it?
A colleague of mine thinks this is all about climate change. Others are talking about the signs of the beginning of the end - hmm, that's intriguing.
Whatever it means, I just wish I could go and see this snow, here in our own UAE. Not the artificially created type of Snow we have in SkiDubai - but real, fresh-from-the-sky kind of snow in RAK.
Thanks to YouTube, here's another treat for you - a video of snow in neighbourhood:
Having lived most of my life in either the Indian plains or the Arabian coast, I have only seen snow once when I visited the foothills of the Himalayas in Himachal Pradesh (India) with my ad agency folks from New Delhi. What if it snows in Abu Dhabi or Dubai? Wouldn't that be fab?
Want to read more about it? The story made front page news in most local newspapers:
1. Anna Zacharias of The National reports the Ras Al Khaimah snowfall here
2. Nasouh Nazzal of Gulf News reports the snow covering Ras Al Khaimah
4. Even the BBC has picked it up the rare snow scoop in the UAE
6 comments:
reli amazing news.....mashallah..
Wow! Intense... I was just in Al Ain. I came to lovely Portland Oregon and we had a snow fall (a bit unusual for us... but not THAT unusual) and was walking to the Train today thinking of just this does it ever snow in the mountains there.... wow. Mashallah. To see it is breathtaking. Next jebel hafeet, the drivers won't know what to do.
peace,
erica aisha
Welcome Muhammed - yes, it's wonderful, isn't it - to see such a pure white carpet of snow in UAE!
Welcome Erica,
It'd be cool to have snow in Jebel Hafeet - I would really want to go there and see it before it melts. Yes, drivers wouldn't know what to do... LOL.
The Bible tells us in the last days the Dessert will bloom. It takes moisture for anything to bloom. PRAISE HIS NAME !
It took snow to get us an update... rarities go hand in hand eh?
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