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The highest peak in the United Arab Emirates – Jebel Jais in Ras Al Khaimah – is under a blanket of snow, as local temperatures dip to -0.1 °C.
According to local news outlets, the snow has fallen during a week-long bout of extreme weather in the country, which has seen strong winds, lightning, and hailstones – punctuated by occasional sunny spells.
Last week, the UAE’s weather bureau warned that a significant drop in temperature could bring freezing rain and snow over the mountains.
Snow in UAE
After the snow fell on the peak and throughout the northern region of Saudi Arabia, earlier this week, people shared photos of snowmen they had built on social media.
Snow is not the only extreme weather experienced in the UAE over the last week – large amounts of rainfall, described by reports as around a year’s worth of rain – forced multiple schools in Dubai and Abu Dhabi to shut over the weekend because of damage.
The average rainfall in a standard January in the Emirates usually totals around10mm. During these downfalls, 150mm of rain reportedly fell per hour, over a time period of two-and-a-half hours.
