Cairo has been transformed into a winter wonderland after
a ”historic” storm in the Middle East brought a rare treat to Egypt’s
capital Friday: a blanket of powdery, white snow.
Due to Cairo’s low rate of precipitation and typically above-freezing
winter temperatures, snow is an exceptionally unusual weather
phenomenon for the North African city. So unusual, in fact, that the Los
Angeles Times, citing local news reports, writes that the last recorded
snowfall in Cairo was more than 100 years ago.
Ali Abdelazim, an official at the city’s meteorological centre,
confirmed to the Agence France-Presse this is the ”first time in very
many years” that snow has fallen in the Cairo area.
Excited Egytians took to social media Friday to share photographs of the unusual meteorological event.
Though the snow brought delight to many Cairo residents, the winter
storm — dubbed “Alexa” — proved to be bad news for some neighbors.
Alexa brought more misery to thousands of Syrian refugees living in
the region, many of whom were unprepared for the cold, brutal
conditions.
In Israel, where the storm reportedly brought the heaviest December
snowfall since 1953, roads had to be closed and thousands were left
without power from the inclement weather.
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