It is one of the hottest desert countries on the planet.
However, Kuwait was the scene of a rare hailstorm that delighted residents on Wednesday.
"We haven't seen such a large amount of hail in winter for 15 years," former director of Kuwait's meteorology department, Mohammed Karam, told AFP.
Hail fell on Wednesday but also on Tuesday in Oum al-Haiman, about 50 kilometers south of the capital.
Children donned warm clothes to pick up hailstones, while netizens flooded social media with photos and videos of roads partially covered in hail.
#SevereWeather đź“ą
An unusual large hailstorm hits southern #Kuwait.
The hail reached a considerable size 🧊, with very significant local accumulations, causing numerous incidents.
pic.twitter.com/RqbI3M3M7b
— Weathered |
tameteo (@MeteoredFR) December 28, 2022
Access to this content has been blocked to respect your choice of consent
By clicking on "
I ACCEPT
", you accept the deposit of cookies by external services and will thus have access to the content of our partners
I ACCEPT
And to better remunerate 20 Minutes, do not hesitate to accept all cookies, even for one day only, via our "I accept for today" button in the banner below.
More information on the Cookie Management Policy page.
Up to 63 millimeters of rain fell in some areas, the weather services said, saying the weather was expected to improve from Wednesday.
While hailstorms are "rare" in Kuwait, they could increase in coming years due to global climate change, warns Mohammed Karam.
The oil-rich Gulf country experiences very hot summers, and risks becoming unlivable at certain times of the year as the planet warms, scientists say.
In 2016, the mercury there recorded a world record, at 54 degrees Celsius.
In parts of the country, temperatures could rise by 4.5 degrees above historical averages between 2071 and 2100, according to the Public Environment Authority.
World
Kuwait: The world's largest "tire graveyard" soon to be transformed into a city?
World
New dust storm hits Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia
World
Kuwait
Severe weather
Storm
Hail
Global warming
Climate change
Weather