It brought snow to coastal areas.. Learn about the strongest snowstorms since the fifties of the last century

Arab Weather - Going back to the archives and memory to previous years, we recall a series of snowstorms that hit the eastern Mediterranean basin regions, which were accompanied by heavy snowfalls at low altitudes. In one of the storms, the snow reached the coasts of the Levant.

The Blizzard of 1950

The region was affected by snowfall twice during February 1950. There was rare snowfall over the sea and coastal areas of Palestine, and snow accumulated to the tune of a few centimeters in the northern and central Jordan Valley, possibly including the Dead Sea. The Kingdom was affected by a similar but less severe mass in January of the same year. That season caused hundreds of refugee victims in the diaspora camps after the 1948 Nakba.

The Blizzard of 1992

Snowfall occurred repeatedly in the eastern Mediterranean regions, specifically the Levant, during the year 1992. It began in December 1991 and continued once in January and four times in February. The most prominent of these was the snowstorm at the end of February, specifically on 24-2-1992, especially since it is the period when people see the end of winter and the approach of spring.

During that period, a high pressure system affected central and western Europe, with a very cold air mass of polar origin over Siberia and the Black Sea regions, flowing towards the eastern Mediterranean basin and forming a snowstorm that affected the Kingdom for two days (24-26) of February. At the time, the Kingdom was experiencing heavy and rare snowfall, which accumulated in all regions of the Kingdom, even the southern regions, and temperatures dropped significantly, approaching 15 degrees below zero Celsius in the southern regions.

Among the effects of this snowstorm, which is unforgettable in the memory of Jordanians, was the freezing of water in water pipes until they burst in many areas, which led to a water cut-off to homes. There was also the death of livestock and great losses in agricultural and animal wealth, and there was a shortage of some food items for many families, especially bread. The heavy accumulation of snow also led to the complete closure of roads for several days, as the height of snow in Sweileh and the northern areas of the capital, Amman, reached 120 cm, and the height of the accumulated snow in the Shara Mountains and southern Jordan exceeded 3 meters.