An Unusual White Winter... Taking Photos and Snowball Fights
"Concerns It Will Become More Frequent Due to Climate Change"
Unusual hail fell in Kuwait, known as the "Land of the Desert."
According to foreign media reports including AFP, on December 27 last year (local time), hail poured down in Kuwait, located in the Middle Eastern desert, quickly covering the city. Citizens who witnessed the rare weather took photos against the backdrop of a white winter and shared them on social networking services (SNS). The photos showed children having snowball fights and citizens stopping their cars to clear the hail.
Muhammad Karam, former head of the Kuwait Meteorological Department, said, "In the past 15 winters, I have never experienced such hail," adding, "Climate change has disrupted weather patterns, causing this phenomenon." He further stated, "There is growing concern that extreme weather events will recur due to climate change."
Other experts expressed worries regarding the hail in Kuwait, saying, "In the future, due to climate change, people may no longer be able to live on Earth." They also predicted that by 2100, summer temperatures in some parts of Kuwait will rise about 4.5 degrees Celsius higher than now, and hailstorms will occur more frequently in winter.
Meanwhile, Kuwait is one of the hottest countries on Earth, with summer temperatures approaching 60 degrees Celsius. In fact, in the summer of 2016, Kuwait recorded a high of 54 degrees Celsius.
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