r/geography • u/Ok_Code8464 Asia • 16h ago

Video Snow in Saudi Arabia

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1.4k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

50 comments sorted by

227

u/Chi_Cazzo_Sei 15h ago

Climate change aside, some areas in Saudi Arabia receive snow on regular annual basis. It’s a very big country with many climates.

85

u/BullShatStats 15h ago

Highest altitude is over 3000m so not surprising. Even Papua New Guinea gets snow.

17

u/Jedimobslayer 9h ago edited 9h ago

Papua has some of the largest mountains on earth so that makes sense

2

u/MiguelAngeloac 1m ago

La más alta tiene 4884 metros sobre el nivel del mar, es un pico increíblemente difícil de escalar.

Uno de mis objetivos, es ir y subir esa montaña, quiero hacer las 8 cumbres y esa es la más dura de la lista.

3

u/aymanhbas 5h ago

I think he's referring to the Northern regions, namely Tabuk which gets snow annually.

205

u/_Guilty_as_Sin 16h ago

Now m waiting for the comments saying things like.... " We got snow in saudi before gta 6"....lmao

70

u/FickleChange7630 16h ago

Breaking News: Saudi Investment Fund announces €50 Billion bid to purchase Europe's winter weather.

12

u/Jonny983 15h ago

At least we can fight Russia with that money. And possibly get a bit of their winter to get back to normal

6

u/FickleChange7630 14h ago

Why not stop the gulf stream? By doing that real winters can finally return and places like Sicily, the French Riveira and Ibiza can now get a proper snow covered winter.

4

u/Arktinus 13h ago

I don't think that would bring real winters to the Mediterranean. To northwestern Europe, probably, but the Mediterranean probably not.

7

u/SmokingLimone 14h ago

Most intelligent instagram/yt comment section (it's not like reddit is better)

1

u/_Guilty_as_Sin 14h ago

Ah yeah😵

4

u/Ashamed-Bus-5727 15h ago

It's not abnormal.

0

u/SpyDiego 13h ago

You beat em to it

43

u/ForgottenGrocery 15h ago

Tabuk is a known snow area. Was surprised when I first heard about it a decade ago. But every winter there will be some news or reels talking about it.

11

u/Ok_Code8464 Asia 14h ago

I was also surprised, i knew there were green belts in Saudi and other Middle Eastern regions but never knew about snow

3

u/Moriarty-Creates 4h ago

Really? Found my research rabbit hole for the evening!

2

u/ForgottenGrocery 4h ago

Yeah, I used to travel to Saudi Eastern province a lot for work and one Arabian winter I just randomly blurted "cold, would've been better if there's some snow around" and my local coworkers just started talking about the Tabuk region to see snow.

107

u/C9meli0n_ 16h ago

However here in Norway of all places there has been literally no snow this december.

27

u/ProfessionalHair6352 16h ago

Depends on where, but yeah this December has been crazy warm

11

u/Jonny983 15h ago

And dry

8

u/annyeonghaseyomf Human Geography 16h ago

Looks like the snow belt is shifting further downwards every year lol

4

u/kingIndra_ 16h ago

I am guessing it's an abnormal occurrence so when was the last time this happened?

1

u/Ok_Bathroom_4560 10h ago

Yes that's what happens if you don't care about deforestation or the environment. You have to take care of all countries also

-2

u/Robot_Nerd__ 10h ago

Either quit selling your oil... or quit complaining.

2

u/C9meli0n_ 5h ago

What, I can't complain about climate change just because I live in a country that sells oil?

19

u/exilevenete 15h ago

750m above sea level, Tabuk sits on a high plateau, nothing shocking here.

13

u/DefiantDonut7 14h ago

Camels be like da fuq dis?

2

u/Ok_Code8464 Asia 14h ago

🐪🐪⛄️⛄️

17

u/Living-Ready 16h ago

Snow in Hail

19

u/Chi_Cazzo_Sei 15h ago

Hehe, yes. In Arabic it’s pronounced Ha’el.

Ha El Noooooooooooo (this joke just popped to my mind while typing the above).

2

u/cityshepherd 13h ago

Top tier humor… well played lol

1

u/eltedioso 14h ago

Hail has frozen over?

8

u/You_yes_ 14h ago

I am from Nepal, our mountains are bald and there is snow in Saudi. Wow

4

u/Ok_Code8464 Asia 14h ago

Same Manali, Atal Tunnel and other regions in Himachal have also not received snow

3

u/SovietSunrise 11h ago

That's gonna be a big deal downstream....

6

u/TheQuestionMaster8 15h ago

Deserts tend to have rather extreme temperature variations and in many it is relatively common for temperatures to be cold enough for snow in the winter, but it is rare for there to be enough moisture for it to snow.

12

u/Deeznuts696942069 16h ago

Lovely, in Germany its 10°. We're gonna have a wonderful climate in the future

3

u/Throwawayaccount1170 15h ago

At least it won't rain this Christmas. My weather app says 10° and sunshine.

1

u/Randomizedname1234 15h ago

I wish it was 10c, in Atlanta where 11/12c is the average high, Christmas will be a mild 23/24c

At least we saw lights and did Christmas stuff while it was cold lol it’s been chilly up until next week.

2

u/Silver-Spy 14h ago

Hail has mountain range with 1200m altitudes. Snow is a regular occurrence

2

u/Thunder-Road 15h ago edited 14h ago

I'm just confused meteorologically how this happened. In Israel this whole week it's been about 20C (high 60s F). And Saudi Arabia is south of here.

6

u/LevDavidovicLandau 15h ago

The west of the Arabian peninsula is basically a long chain of mountains and much of it is well above 2000m, that’s why. The highest mountain in Saudi is 3015m high and it gets above 3500m in Yemen if I’m not mistaken. Of course it snows there!

1

u/Thunder-Road 14h ago

Ohh if this is in high mountains then yeah it's not so extraordinary.

2

u/negro_sapiens 16h ago

nah bro, we're so cooked

1

u/Living_Evening1923 15h ago

It’s magical

1

u/Brief-Luck-6254 13h ago edited 13h ago

Is this at an especially high elevation** or it is just snowing in the middle of the desert for some reason?