Rare Snow Dazzles Cairo Area Residents

Many took to Twitter to post pics of the wintery surprise

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Cairo suburbs got snow for the first time in recent memory on Friday morning. Some estimate that it has been as long as 112 years since Egypt’s capital has seen snow. While the precise timeframe is unclear, many residents of the area captured the unusual meteorological event by posting photos of the dusting on Twitter.

“It is the first time in very many years” since the last snowfall in the suburbs of Cairo, Ali Abdelazim, an official at Egypt’s meteorological center, told AFP.  The snowfall, which also blanketed the country’s Port of Alexandria as well as Jerusalem, was the result of storm Alexa, which has hounded Lebanon and parts of Northern Syria since Wednesday. Temperatures have fallen below zero, bringing snow, sleet and heavy rain.

The snow didn’t bring cheer to everyone in the region. The cold weather delayed an airlift of desperately needed food and aid from Iraq to displaced families in Syria for a second day, according to the United Nations food agency. In the Gaza strip, 500 people had to evacuate their homes as the region received its first snow in a decade.

Here are some of the pictures people posted of the storm:

[tweet https://twitter.com/AmrElGabry/status/411416119899987968%5D

[tweet https://twitter.com/MihooSalem/status/411379687215341568%5D

[tweet https://twitter.com/belharesya/status/411487695752265729%5D

[tweet https://twitter.com/pakinamamer/status/411537899209781248%5D

[tweet https://twitter.com/EgyptianStreets/status/411433504212127744%5D

[tweet https://twitter.com/DrShepherd2013/status/411633135286091776%5D

[LA Times]