Iraqis awoke to see Baghdad covered in snow for the first time in more than a decade today. Baghdad residents rushed to take pictures while youngsters had snowball fights after a cold wave from Europe sprinkled snow across the city.
The city's palm trees were outlined in white, while tents belonging to protesters in long-running anti-government demonstrations in Tahrir Square were also covered in snow. The last recorded snowfall in Baghdad was in , but that was brief and mostly slushy. Before that, it had been a century since the capital saw any snowflakes.
An Iraqi woman makes a snowball in her hand as snow covers the bonnet and windscreen of her car in Baghdad, where residents awoke today to the city's first snowfall since An Iraqi girl plays with her mother in the snow in the Shiite holy city of Karbala today, which was covered by snow after what meteorologists described as a cold wave coming in from Europe.
A man wearing a hood and a warm coat walks along a bridge during a snow storm in Mosul today, which was hit by heavier precipitation than the capital Baghdad. An Iraqi boy wears a bobble hat covered in snow in Karbala today amid snowfall which is expected to continue until tomorrow. Iraqis play in the snow in the city of Karbala, shaking snow off a tree while much of the park is powdered with snow. An Iraqi boy takes a blow during a snowball flight while a woman looks at her car which was blanketed by the snow in Baghdad.
People on their way to work stopped their cars to take pictures or break out into impromptu snowball fights. South of the capital, snow also carpeted the Shiite holy city of Karbala which draws pilgrims from around the world to see its golden-domed mausoleums. Baghdad residents are more suited to heat, with a record temperature of F 51C repeatedly coming under threat in recent years. A man cleans the snow off his windscreen in Baghdad which had not experienced any kind of snowfall since A palm tree in Karbala stands in a snow-covered park early this morning as many Iraqis woke to see snow for the first time.
