Yes, believe it or not. The desert land of Egypt saw its first snowfall in a hundred years on Friday. People of Egypt woke up to see a white sheet of snow cover their dry homeland, a sight they had never witnessed.

The entire Middle East has experienced a fair amount of sleet this season, and Cairo, the city of the pyramids, was no exception. The snow cover was no less than four inches, causing schools and offices to shut down.

The Reaction

Elated, of course. The people are rejoicing. Some of them had never seen snow in their entire lifetimes. Children are the happiest and have taken to making snowmen, or snow-sphinxes, if we might say.

However, the snow has certainly made things worse for war refugees living in tents. Not equipped to deal with the icy winds and snow, they are having a hard time, with some having to melt snow on stoves to get drinking water.

What does it mean?

For those wanting to holiday in Egypt, this is probably a good time to start planning one, and by the time you reach there, the snow would have melted leaving just a breezy chill.

Now as far the explanation for this is concerned, an online Jewish magazine had this to say:

“Last week, the chief rabbis asked Jews around the world to pray for rain in Israel since winter had begun with a dry spell […] Apparently, it worked.”

We are a little confused about global warming now. The Middle East ain’t getting hotter. And last week, there was a report about the ozone layer hole recovering a little. Though it’s not much and we shouldn’t be too happy too soon, it is a silver lining for the planet. The efforts to save energy and reduce pollution are working. Mind your carbon prints, people!

Beware: A photograph of the pyramids covered in snow has gone viral, but apparently it is a fake. It is an edited version of an old pic. It snowed, yes, but not so much as to cover the pyramids.