Saudi Gazette report

TABUK — It’s snow season now in Saudi Arabia. The mountains of Al-Lawz area in Tabuk region were covered in snow from early Tuesday morning, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

Areas covered with snow became a tourist attraction for Tabuk residents and visitors who arrived from various regions to enjoy the snow and the beauty of that area that witnessed snow.

Director of the branch of the National Center of Meteorology in the Northern Region Alenizi stated that snowfall in the Northern Region of Saudi Arabia, especially Al-Lawz Mountains and adjacent areas, depend on two main factors.

“The first is the extent of depth and movement of the polar depression and the availability of suitable moisture, as it often touches the northwestern areas of Alkan and Al-Lawz Mountain, where depression may deepen further south and affect the Hasmi mountains west of Tabuk. Its impact rarely reaches the south of Tabuk, where the Harrah Mountains are.”

The director added that the second factor is the extent of the freezing line's descent as polar depressions are accompanied by a drop in the tropopause level, thus the level of the atmospheric layer falls. “Weather enthusiasts look for some lines known as snowlines, such as the 540 line in the 500 mb layer and the 130 line in the 850 mb layer,” he said.

The director pointed out some factors that indicate the likelihood of snowfall at the Earth's surface level: lines drawn in weather maps expressing how high or low the layer is, and thus how deep a depression can be. He noted that the real scale is the zero Celsius temperature at any level, which determines the type of precipitation that occurs.