KUWAIT/BAGHDAD: Residents of Baghdad rushed to have snowball fights or take photographs yesterday as the Iraqi capital woke carpeted in white by only its second snowfall in a century. In neighboring Kuwait, the temperature is expected to drop below zero degrees Celsius tonight as a cold wave continues to sweep through the country. The weather forecast for today predicts the maximum temperature to reach only 12 degrees, while the mercury could drop as low as -1 degrees.
“[The weather is] very cold with light to moderate northwesterly wind with a speed of 12-40 km/h. Some scattered clouds will appear with a chance of frost in agricultural and desert areas,” the Kuwait Meteorological Department forecast yesterday. The same weather conditions are projected for today, while temperatures are set to gradually increase to a maximum of 17 degrees Celsius and minimum of 4 degrees tomorrow, then continuing to increase through the weekend.
The last recorded snowfall in Baghdad was in 2008, but it was a quick and mostly slushy affair – and prior to that, it had been a century since Baghdad saw any flakes. Iraqis young and old said it was the first time they had ever seen snow falling in Baghdad. The city’s iconic palm trees were daintily outlined in white, and the tarpaulins of the long-running anti-government protest camp in Tahrir Square in the city center were sprinkled with snow.