First snow for 100 years falls on Baghdad
12 hours ago
BAGHDAD (AFP) — Light snow fell in Baghdad early on Friday in what
weather officials said was the first time in about a 100 years.
Rare
snowfalls were also recorded in the west and centre of Iraq, plunging
temperatures to zero degrees Centigrade (32 degrees Fahrenheit) and
even colder, an official said.
The snow in Baghdad, which melted
as it hit the ground, began falling before dawn and continued until
after 9 am, residents said.
"Snow has fallen in Baghdad for the
first time in about a century as a result of two air flows meeting,"
said a statement by the meteorology department.
"The first one was cold and dry and the second one was warm and humid. They met above Iraq."
The
director of the meteorology department, Dawood Shakir, told AFP that
climate change was possibly to blame for the unusual event.
"It's very rare," he said. "Baghdad has never seen snow falling in living memory.
"These
snowfalls are linked to the climate change that is happening
everywhere. We are finding some places in the world which are warm and
are supposed to be cold."
Snow was also reported in the mountainous Kurdish north of the country, where falls are common.
