Rare blanket of snow covers Sahara desert for the third time
Snow started falling in the early hours of Sunday morning and it quickly began settling on the sand, delighting locals to no ends.
This is because for the first time since in 37 years, the world’s largest subtropical desert, Sahara Desert is covered in snow.
A spokesman for the Met Office attributed the rare phenomenon to cold weather and high pressure.
'Cold air was pulled down south in to North Africa over the weekend as a result of high pressure over Europe.
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'The high pressure meant the cold weather extended further south than normal.'
TSA Algeria reported that just over 40 cm of snow fell, starting in the early hours of the morning and that it began to thaw after 5 pm local time.
This is the third time in 37 years that the town of Ain Sefra in Algeria has seen snow cover the red sand dunes of the desert. In 2016, the town known as 'The Gateway to the Desert' saw deep snow shortly after Christmas and it caused chaos, with passengers stranded on buses after the roads became slippery and icy.
Prior to that, snow had not been in Ain Sefra since February 18, 1979, when they had a flurry which lasted just 30 minutes.
Ain Sefra is located around 3,280ft above sea level and surrounded by the Atlas Mountains.However, the sight didn't last long, as rising temperatures melted the snow during the day.
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