January 11, 2008
Christmas In Baghdad
Iraqis gratefully received a belated holiday gift today when the first snowfall in memory descended on their country.
"'When I was young, I heard from my father that such rain had fallen in the early '40s on the outskirts of northern Baghdad,'' 63-year-old Mohammed Abdul-Hussein told AP. "But snow falling in Baghdad in such a magnificent scene was beyond my imagination."
Snow is so rare in those parts that it seems some Iraqis don't have a word for it. By "such rain," Abdul-Hussein was referring to the flurries. NPR reported this morning that Baghdadis happily ran outside to snap photos of the snow with their cell phones; unfortunately, that segment isn't yet available on NPR's Web site.
"A few minutes ago, I was covered with snowflakes. In my hair, on my shoulders. I invite all the people to enjoy peace, because the snow means peace," a happy Hassan Zahar told Reuters.
The flakes melted on contact with the ground. Meteorologists told AFP that the last recorded snowfall in Baghdad was about 100 years ago, and that the flurries might be a product of climate change.
The country's mountainous north is no stranger to snow; that's where the pic in this post was taken. See the AFP story for a photo of an Iraqi couple frolicking in the Baghdad snow today. The photo in that AFP story was taken in Sulaimaniyah, in the country's northeast. AFP has switched out that photo with one taken in Baghdad. It's not great. Reuters has a much better one.
Posted at 11:27 AM
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Iraq, Middle East
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