- Thousands of people seeking relief from 100-plus temperatures
in Saudi Arabia got an unexpected surprise today during a visit to a national
park in the mountains.
-
- They got snow - several inches of it. There was enough
to trap thousands of park-goers.
-
- Civil defense teams were called in after 75 people were
injured in the ensuing panic. Several hundred were rescued by helicopters
and mountain jeeps.
-
- Ski Saudi Arabia!
-
- Saudi Arabia's prevailing climate is hot and dry, but
frost and freezing temperatures have been reported in winter.
-
- Rainfall is considered very sparse with an average annual
precipitation of just 4 inches.
-
- However, there are mountains in the country's southwest,
near its border with Yemen. Saudi entrepeneurs, undaunted by the lack of
snow in the kingdom, have even been attempting to build ski resorts there
with the help of snow-making machines.
-
- http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/world/DailyNews/saudi010723.html
-
-
- Spanish Enclave Hit by Freak Heatwaves
-
- 7-23-1
-
- MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's
North African enclave of Melilla was hit by freak heatwaves on Monday which
sent temperatures shooting up as much by as 30 degrees Fahrenheit in a
matter of minutes.
-
- Spain's Meteorological Institute said it registered two
heat surges during the morning, the first sending thermometers soaring
to a sweltering 105-F from a warm 75-F before falling away again within
15 minutes.
-
- An hour later, the second burst of heat pushed temperatures
up by 59-F before again cooling down a few minutes later.
-
- "I was working with the window open when it suddenly
started getting very hot and gusty. It was like a hot desert wind and we
quickly shut the windows and got the air-conditioning on,'' said a receptionist
at a government building in Melilla. The weather office said in a statement
that a mass of hot and dry air had replaced a layer of cooler moist sea
air near the city, causing temperatures to surge and gusts of wind of up
to 44 mph.
-
- Melilla is located on a small peninsular on Morocco's
Mediterranean coast.
|
