Social media users share photos with false claim they show first snowfall in Saudi Arabia

"For the first time in history, Saudi Arabia has experienced snow. With heavy rain and hailstorms, some parts of the Al-Jouf region of Saudi Arabia were blanketed in a layer of white. History says the region never saw snowfall. The citizens of the region saw snowfall for the first time," read a Bengali-language Facebook post shared on November 8, 2024.

The post also shared two pictures, with one showing a desert blanketed in white and snow piling up on the humps of camels can be seen in the other.

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Screenshot of the false post

The false claim surfaced after the state-run Saudi Press Agency reported on November 2, 2024 that heavy rains "accompanied by significant amounts of hail" have lashed various parts of the Al-Jouf region (archived link).

Some international media outlets also reported historic snowfall in the Al-Jouf region (archived links here and here).

Similar claims were made elsewhere on Facebook.

However, there have been reports of snow in Saudi Arabia before the false posts surfaced, and the pictures in the posts are not linked to the snowfall in Al-Jouf. 

Unrelated pictures

A reverse image search found a photo showing a scene similar to the first picture uploaded to X on November 3, 2024 -- days before the false claim surfaced (archived link).

"Snapshots from the Hail-Rafha road," the post's caption read. 

Hamad al Saloom, a local government employee who took the picture, told AFP that it was taken in the region around Hail -- more than 290 kilometres (180 miles) from Al-Jouf.

Images from Google Satellite of the region also show similar geographical features along a road in the area (archived link).

Below is a screenshot comparison of the picture in the false post (left) and on Saloom's X account (right):

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Screenshot comparison of the picture in the false post (left) and on Saloom's X account (right)

A reverse image search on Google found the second photo first surfaced on the blogging website Tumblr in October 2020 -- years before the false claim surfaced (archived link).

The picture was published on a blog called Thunayan, which publishes scenes around Saudi Arabia. 

Below is a screenshot comparison of the picture as seen in the false post (left) and on the blog (right):

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Screenshot comparison of the picture as seen in the false post (left) and on the blog (right)

There have been reports of snow in Saudi Arabia before the false claim surfaced. 

According to the government-run Saudipedia website, snowfall is usually seen in the kingdom during the winter season, especially in northern regions such as the Tabuk province (archived link).

AFP published a video report on January 18, 2022 showing locals in the province taking advantage of the snowy weather and setting up tents or picnics to experience the cold weather (archived link).

Speaking to AFP in February 2023, Omar Baddour, head of climate monitoring and policy at the World Meteorological Organization, said that the snow in Saudi Arabia was not in contradiction with climate change. 

"Globally, extreme low temperatures are getting less frequent, yet they are still and will continue to be recorded," Baddour said. "On the climate change side, warmer oceans lead to more evaporation and, therefore, more moisture in the atmosphere. Therefore, climate change would play in favour of having these types of events more likely than not."

Other outlets have also reported on snow in the kingdom in previous years (archived links here and here).