Children living in the Sahara desert look like they had the time of their lives sliding down the icy slopes after a freak snow storm.

Photographers Hamouda Ben Jerad  and Sekkouri Kamel captured people slipping and sliding down the sand dunes after the small Algerian town of Ain Sefra saw up to 40cm of snow fall during a freak winter storm on Sunday.

The excited kids could be seen sliding straight down on their fronts as they enjoyed the freak weather.

They made snowmen and snow angels, which could be the only time in their lifetime they’ll play in snow in their home town.

Other than a snow storm which lasted just 30 minutes last year, this is the first time snow has been seen in the town for 37 years.

Ain Sefra usually sees average temperatures in summer reach around 37 degrees Celsius in summer and lows of -10.2C in winter.

Although the temperatures can plummet very quickly at night it is rare for snowfall to occur as there is not any water to create any sort of precipitation.

When locals woke up to discover the new steep snowy slopes they took every advantage to enjoy the in the world’s hottest desert.

Photographer Karim Bouchetata said: “We were really surprised when we woke up to see snow again. It stayed all day on Sunday and began melting at around 5pm.”

Last year the town, known as “The Gateway to the Desert” saw deep snow shortly after Christmas and it caused chaos, with passengers stranded on buses after the roads became slippery and icy.

Before that snow was last seen in Ain Sefra on February 18, 1979, when the snow storm lasted just half an hour.

Ain Sefra is around 1000 metres above sea level and surrounded by the Atlas Mountains.

The Sahara Desert covers most of Northern Africa and it has gone through shifts in temperature and moisture over the past few hundred thousand years. Although the Sahara is very dry today, it is expected to become green again in about 15000 years.

Source:
courtesy of METRO

by Kate Buck

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