Viral video debunked: First snow in 100 years in Saudi Arabia?

A video circulating on the internet depicting snow-covered camels in otherwise sandy and arid Saudi Arabia has gone viral.

Al Arabiya English can confirm that the video was taken in Saudi Arabia’s Tabuk region, which receives snowfall annually.

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However, it is currently not snowing in Tabuk, and the video claiming falsities was shot two years ago.

The claim made in a tweet with the video, published by a verified legacy Twitter account on February 26 claiming “Global Warming strikes again, first snow in Saudi Arabia in 100 years,” is false.

Global Warming strikes again, first snow in Saudi Arabia in 100 years. pic.twitter.com/q89w03fPej

— @amuse (@amuse) February 26, 2023

The microblogging site’s Community Noted feature, which fact-checks some tweets and provides context, flagged the content as false on February 27, back-linking to a Gulf Today article from 2021 that carried the original story.

Regardless, many users of the platform used the video to strengthen the claim that global warming is a hoax.

Twitter account claiming that global warming is a hoax. (Screengrab)

In reality, snow is commonplace in the Kingdom’s northern regions. Visit Saudi, the Kingdom’s official travel guide website, offers various experiences in the snow including hikes, camel rides, sledding and camping during winter.

A spokesman for the Saudi embassy in the United States, Fahad Nazer, addressed the video after it circulated online in 2021: “There is no denying climate change but it’s also not that rare for this region — Tabuk — in northwestern Saudi Arabia to experience snow,” AFP reported on Friday.

“Contrary to popular perception, not every region in the Kingdom is warm year-round.”

In December 2022, snow enveloped the mountains in Tabuk turning the region completely white as temperatures dropped drastically overnight. Tabuk is located close to the Jordanian border and is home to 667,000 people.

Omar Baddour, head of climate monitoring and policy for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) was quoted as saying by AFP: “During winter, the cold air intrusion from polar regions typically affects the Middle East, including Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and the vicinity.”

“On some occasions, [although] rare, it can further migrate southward to Saudi Arabia. If there is enough moisture in the air and the temperature drops well near or below zero at the surface, this can lead to snowfall, even in the desertic region.”

With AFP

Read more:

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