Cold weather, light rain showers and hail were reported in parts of Saudi Arabia this week, sparking joy for people who rarely see precipitation.
Hafar Al Batin, in the Eastern Province, registered rainfall on Monday, following a day of hail and heavy rain in Riyadh on Sunday.
Stormy skies, rain and hail were also seen in Qurayyat, near Turaif in the Northern Borders Province.
People took to social media to rejoice and welcome the winter weather, sharing pictures and videos of hail and rain in the desert. People parked by the side of the road to enjoy the rain and collect raindrops and hail in their hands.
“It was such a pleasant surprise,” Tala Hamdan, a Saudi citizen, told The National.
“We drove to the Eastern Province from Riyadh for the weekend and on our way back, it started raining suddenly.
"We have suffered an intense and long period of hot summer and now we are finally blessed with winter.
“I was planning to travel to London, but no longer need to. We have fantastic weather here.”
Temperatures are expected to drop across the kingdom in the coming weeks following rain and inclement weather, the National Centre of Meteorology reported.
The centre has forecast rain for all regions of the kingdom.
Following the rain that hit the coastal region last week, cold wind and rain will spread to the northern and eastern regions, as well as Riyadh and Qassim, the centre said.
“After a month, we will live the coldest days of the year, which is the season of the cold blue season – in which bodies turn blue from the severity of the cold,” weather expert Dr Khaled Al Zaqaq said on Monday.
