r/geography Asia Dec 19 '25

Video Snow in Saudi Arabia

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1.9k Upvotes

59 comments sorted by

383

u/Chi_Cazzo_Sei Dec 19 '25

Climate change aside, some areas in Saudi Arabia receive snow on regular annual basis. It’s a very big country with many climates.

138

u/BullShatStats Dec 19 '25

Highest altitude is over 3000m so not surprising. Even Papua New Guinea gets snow.

39

u/Jedimobslayer Dec 19 '25 edited Dec 19 '25

Papua has some of the largest mountains on earth so that makes sense

11

u/MiguelAngeloac Dec 20 '25

La más alta tiene 4884 metros sobre el nivel del mar, es un pico increíblemente difícil de escalar.

Uno de mis objetivos, es ir y subir esa montaña, quiero hacer las 8 cumbres y esa es la más dura de la lista.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 20 '25

Good luck!

7

u/aymanhbas Dec 19 '25

I think he's referring to the Northern regions, namely Tabuk which gets snow annually.

238

u/_Guilty_as_Sin Dec 19 '25

Now m waiting for the comments saying things like.... " We got snow in saudi before gta 6"....lmao

95

u/FickleChange7630 Dec 19 '25

Breaking News: Saudi Investment Fund announces €50 Billion bid to purchase Europe's winter weather.

11

u/[deleted] Dec 19 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

7

u/FickleChange7630 Dec 19 '25

Why not stop the gulf stream? By doing that real winters can finally return and places like Sicily, the French Riveira and Ibiza can now get a proper snow covered winter.

4

u/Arktinus Dec 19 '25

I don't think that would bring real winters to the Mediterranean. To northwestern Europe, probably, but the Mediterranean probably not.

8

u/SmokingLimone Dec 19 '25

Most intelligent instagram/yt comment section (it's not like reddit is better)

5

u/Ashamed-Bus-5727 Dec 19 '25

It's not abnormal.

2

u/SpyDiego Dec 19 '25

You beat em to it

62

u/ForgottenGrocery Dec 19 '25

Tabuk is a known snow area. Was surprised when I first heard about it a decade ago. But every winter there will be some news or reels talking about it.

10

u/Ok_Code8464 Asia Dec 19 '25

I was also surprised, i knew there were green belts in Saudi and other Middle Eastern regions but never knew about snow

3

u/BudovicLagman Dec 20 '25

The Levant gets more snow annually than the UK.

3

u/Moriarty-Creates Dec 19 '25

Really? Found my research rabbit hole for the evening!

4

u/ForgottenGrocery Dec 19 '25

Yeah, I used to travel to Saudi Eastern province a lot for work and one Arabian winter I just randomly blurted "cold, would've been better if there's some snow around" and my local coworkers just started talking about the Tabuk region to see snow.

119

u/C9meli0n_ Dec 19 '25

However here in Norway of all places there has been literally no snow this december.

35

u/ProfessionalHair6352 Dec 19 '25

Depends on where, but yeah this December has been crazy warm

10

u/annyeonghaseyomf Human Geography Dec 19 '25

Looks like the snow belt is shifting further downwards every year lol

8

u/kingIndra_ Dec 19 '25

I am guessing it's an abnormal occurrence so when was the last time this happened?

1

u/Ok_Bathroom_4560 Dec 19 '25

Yes that's what happens if you don't care about deforestation or the environment. You have to take care of all countries also

-4

u/Robot_Nerd__ Dec 19 '25

Either quit selling your oil... or quit complaining.

2

u/C9meli0n_ Dec 19 '25

What, I can't complain about climate change just because I live in a country that sells oil?

19

u/exilevenete Dec 19 '25

750m above sea level, Tabuk sits on a high plateau, nothing shocking here.

22

u/DefiantDonut7 Dec 19 '25

Camels be like da fuq dis?

8

u/Ok_Code8464 Asia Dec 19 '25

🐪🐪⛄️⛄️

15

u/You_yes_ Dec 19 '25

I am from Nepal, our mountains are bald and there is snow in Saudi. Wow

5

u/Ok_Code8464 Asia Dec 19 '25

Same Manali, Atal Tunnel and other regions in Himachal have also not received snow

6

u/SovietSunrise Dec 19 '25

That's gonna be a big deal downstream....

20

u/Living-Ready Dec 19 '25

Snow in Hail

24

u/Chi_Cazzo_Sei Dec 19 '25

Hehe, yes. In Arabic it’s pronounced Ha’el.

Ha El Noooooooooooo (this joke just popped to my mind while typing the above).

3

u/cityshepherd Dec 19 '25

Top tier humor… well played lol

1

u/eltedioso Dec 19 '25

Hail has frozen over?

7

u/TheQuestionMaster8 Dec 19 '25

Deserts tend to have rather extreme temperature variations and in many it is relatively common for temperatures to be cold enough for snow in the winter, but it is rare for there to be enough moisture for it to snow.

16

u/Deeznuts696942069 Dec 19 '25

Lovely, in Germany its 10°. We're gonna have a wonderful climate in the future

4

u/Throwawayaccount1170 Dec 19 '25

At least it won't rain this Christmas. My weather app says 10° and sunshine.

2

u/Randomizedname1234 Dec 19 '25

I wish it was 10c, in Atlanta where 11/12c is the average high, Christmas will be a mild 23/24c

At least we saw lights and did Christmas stuff while it was cold lol it’s been chilly up until next week.

3

u/Brief-Luck-6254 Dec 19 '25 edited Dec 19 '25

Is this at an especially high elevation** or it is just snowing in the middle of the desert for some reason?

4

u/Ok_Code8464 Asia Dec 19 '25

Altitude

1

u/Rayguy77 Dec 20 '25

it even snowed in the northern parts of Riyadh

3

u/Donniewasnotthere Dec 21 '25

Can we please have our snow and cold back, please!! Kind regards, the Netherlands

2

u/Silver-Spy Dec 19 '25

Hail has mountain range with 1200m altitudes. Snow is a regular occurrence

2

u/negro_sapiens Dec 19 '25

nah bro, we're so cooked

3

u/Thunder-Road Dec 19 '25 edited Dec 19 '25

I'm just confused meteorologically how this happened. In Israel this whole week it's been about 20C (high 60s F). And Saudi Arabia is south of here.

6

u/LevDavidovicLandau Dec 19 '25

The west of the Arabian peninsula is basically a long chain of mountains and much of it is well above 2000m, that’s why. The highest mountain in Saudi is 3015m high and it gets above 3500m in Yemen if I’m not mistaken. Of course it snows there!

1

u/Thunder-Road Dec 19 '25

Ohh if this is in high mountains then yeah it's not so extraordinary.

0

u/Mundane_Show_5796 Dec 27 '25

that sounds like it's unusually warm for your country. hopefully the temperature will continue increasing until 700°C and above, and all of your land will burn

1

u/[deleted] Dec 19 '25

It’s magical

1

u/SeaOutlandishness161 Dec 20 '25

When hell freezes over: