Desert Snow

[GordMay]

For the first time in recorded history, Saudi Arabia’s Al-Jawf region experienced snowfall, turning the arid desert landscape into a rare winter scene. This, unprecedented, weather event follows a period of intense rain, and hail.
Saudi Arabia is not the only country, experiencing unusual weather patterns, this season.
In neighbouring United Arab Emirates [UAE], the National Centre of Meteorology reported similar conditions, with rainfall, thunderstorms, and the possibility of hail, affecting multiple areas.
Experts attribute this shift to low-pressure systems, originating in the Arabian Sea, bringing wetter-than-usual weather, to the typically dry region.

Video ➥ https://twitter.com/i/status/1853705631221575965

This is not the first time Saudi Arabia has experienced unusual snowfall. In February 2024, the mountains of Al-Lawz, northwest of Tabuk city, were also blanketed in snow, though the event came later than usual, due to warmer-than-normal temperatures, during the Marbaniya season.
Typically, Al-Lawz witnesses snow between December and January, but this year’s delayed snowfall was attributed to changes in atmospheric conditions and the absence of southern winds that usually bring cold, moist air to the region.

[barnakiel]

Yes. We often think of Sahara as the hot place. But not only can it get very very cold at night, but - now and then - a rare wx event will bring snow to some places.


I remember one writer (of fiction) being accused of wild fantasizing only to be proven right a few years later when snow covered the area she was writing about. A rare, but not black swan, event.


PS It is snowing in Morocco today too. Morocco, Africa, not Morocco, Indiana !!


b.

[yalla]

saudi arabia is far from the sahara. but hey, all deserts are the same amirite?

[yalla]

Morocco has a few ski resorts. you really need to get out more...

[GordMay]

A few years ago, a town in the Sahara desert, known for its blistering temperatures that often surpass 58 degrees Celsius, saw a dramatic drop to -2 degrees Celsius, resulting in an unexpected snowfall.

Snow falls in Algeria's Sahara Desert ➥ https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-60045153

[yalla]

like Saudi Arabia, Canada has a desert. like Saudi Arabia, Canada does not contain any part of the Sahara

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by yalla

like Saudi Arabia, Canada has a desert. like Saudi Arabia, Canada does not contain any part of the Sahara

Not exactly.
Canada has no "true"* [traditional] deserts, but some regions display desert-like traits.
“Deserts in Canada? A look at some of the country’s most desert-like landscapes”
➥ https://canadiangeographic.ca/articl...ke-landscapes/

* A ‘true’ desert is a region, where evaporation greatly exceeds precipitation, resulting in a water deficiency. Rain occurs, usually, as high-intensity storms, only once every few years. In addition to the sparsity of rainfall, high evaporation rates remove whatever moisture may be present.

[GordMay]

The Sahara Desert is the largest “non-polar” desert in the world; but the Earth's polar regions [Antarctic & Arctic] are home to the two largest deserts in the world.

Antarctica is the largest continent, as well as the largest desert in the world. This frigid wasteland dominates the South Pole, with a massive surface area of 5.5 million square miles ( 14.2 million square kilometers). Antarctica also is the windiest continent, and home to one of the driest places on Earth [ only receives 0.8 inches (2 centimeters) of precipitation per year] - the McMurdo Dry valleys. The McMurdo Dry valleys region is the only recorded area on Earth devoid of any microbial life.
The average temperature in Antarctica hovers around 0 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 17.8 degrees Celsius), but it can get as low as minus 58 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 50 degrees Celsius) during the coldest winter months. The coldest recorded temperature in Antarctica occurred in July 1983 when this gargantuan polar desert dropped to an astounding minus 128.6 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 89.2 degrees Celsius).

The cold desert of the arctic includes the polar tundra of Canada, Greenland and Russia and together it is the second-largest desert in the world. The massive 5.4 million square mile (13.9 million square kilometer) Arctic Polar Desert is just a few hundred square miles smaller than its counterpoint on the south pole. This desert gets little to no precipitation thanks in part to its extremely cold temperatures and dry air. Snow does fall, but it rarely melts. Despite these conditions, the Arctic Polar Desert is home to numerous species of hardy birds, walruses and polar bears.

The Sahara is the largest hot desert, and the third-largest desert in the world, spanning 3.5 million square miles (9.1 million square kilometers) of arid, wind-swept landscapes. The Western Sahara expands to the Atlantic Ocean, while it also completely dominates the northern part of Africa, stretching north from the Red Sea, to the Mediterranean. Near these coastal systems, the Sahara may experience between 4 and 10 inches (10 and 25 centimeters) of precipitation per year. Still, interior sand seas, making up most of the core land mass, rarely receive more than a quarter-inch of annual rain.

The Arabian Desert, not to be confused with the Syrian Desert, or North Arabian Desert, is the fourth-largest desert in the world. It is second in total land mass for subtropical deserts, with an expansive surface area of 1 million square miles (2.6 million square kilometers) scattered across the Arabian Peninsula. A 2018 study, from the National Science Foundation, found that the desert has grown 10 percent, since 1920. Many researchers agree that this trend will continue, until humans dramatically reduce emissions, and other forms of atmospheric pollution.

[massnspace]

Originally Posted by GordMay

For the first time in recorded history, Saudi Arabia’s Al-Jawf region experienced snowfall, turning the arid desert landscape into a rare winter scene. This, unprecedented, weather event follows a period of intense rain, and hail.
Saudi Arabia is not the only country, experiencing unusual weather patterns, this season.
In neighbouring United Arab Emirates [UAE], the National Centre of Meteorology reported similar conditions, with rainfall, thunderstorms, and the possibility of hail, affecting multiple areas.
Experts attribute this shift to low-pressure systems, originating in the Arabian Sea, bringing wetter-than-usual weather, to the typically dry region.

Video ➥ https://twitter.com/i/status/1853705631221575965

This is not the first time Saudi Arabia has experienced unusual snowfall. In February 2024, the mountains of Al-Lawz, northwest of Tabuk city, were also blanketed in snow, though the event came later than usual, due to warmer-than-normal temperatures, during the Marbaniya season.
Typically, Al-Lawz witnesses snow between December and January, but this year’s delayed snowfall was attributed to changes in atmospheric conditions and the absence of southern winds that usually bring cold, moist air to the region.

What does this have to do with sailing?

[PippaB]

Originally Posted by GordMay

Not exactly.
Canada has no "true"* [traditional] deserts, but some regions display desert-like traits....

Originally Posted by GordMay

....
The cold desert of the arctic includes the polar tundra of Canada, Greenland and Russia and together it is the second-largest desert in the world. ...

Your two articles seem to disagree amongst themselves - just like CF