[umsami]

<a href="http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2008/01/12/flurries_delight_war_weary_baghdad/" target="_blank">http://www.boston.com/news/world/mid...weary_baghdad/</a><br><br><div style="margin:20px;margin-top:5px;">
<div class="smallfont" style="margin-bottom:2px;">Quote:</div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" width="99%"><tr><td class="alt2" style="border:1px inset;">"The flakes melted quickly. But the smiles, wonder, and excited story-swapping went on throughout the day: It snowed in Baghdad yesterday.<br><br>
The morning flurry was a very rare occurrence in Iraq's desert capital, and some residents said they had never seen it before. Perhaps more significant, however, was the ripple of delight through a city snarled by army checkpoints, divided by concrete walls, and ravaged by sectarian killings.<br><br>
"For the first time in my life I saw a snow-rain like this falling in Baghdad," said Mohammed Abdul-Hussein, a 63-year-old retiree from the New Baghdad area.<br><br>
"When I was young, I heard from my father that such rain had fallen in the early '40s on the outskirts of northern Baghdad," Abdul-Hussein said. "But snow falling in Baghdad in such a magnificent scene was beyond my imagination."..."</td>
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I'm glad it brought some happiness. I sure hope nobody is harmed by the cold temperatures. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="/img/vbsmilies/smilies/cold.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Cold">:

 

[applejuice]

Global Warming!

 

[Mama Dragon]

On no, climate change isn't happening. Nooooo. Not on this planet.<br><br><img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/lol.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="lol">

 

[eco_mama]

I read about this a couple days ago. I think Mother Earth is trying to tell us something, ya?

 

[umsami]

Yes...global warming no doubt is the cause.. but still, it's nice that these folks had a little happiness and delight in their life. Many are seeing it as a sign of better things to come. I sure hope so.<br><br><a href="http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-31352620080111" target="_blank">http://in.reuters.com/article/worldN...31352620080111</a><br><br><div style="margin:20px;margin-top:5px;">
<div class="smallfont" style="margin-bottom:2px;">Quote:</div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" width="99%"><tr><td class="alt2" style="border:1px inset;">"It is the first time we've seen snow in Baghdad," said 60-year-old Hassan Zahar. "We've seen sleet before, but never snow. I looked at the faces of all the people, they were astonished," he said.<br><br>
"A few minutes ago, I was covered with snowflakes. In my hair, on my shoulders. I invite all the people to enjoy peace, because the snow means peace," he said.<br><br>
Traffic policeman Murtadha Fadhil, huddling under a balcony to keep dry, declared the snow "a new sign of the new Iraq."<br><br>
"It's a sign of hope. We hope Iraqis will purify their hearts and politicians will work for the prosperity of all Iraqis."<br><br>
The streets of the capital were largely empty as big, thick, wet flakes fell on Friday morning, a weekend day in Iraq. The temperature hovered around freezing and the snow mostly melted into grey puddles when it hit the ground.<br><br>
But it was still lovely, said Mohanned Rahim, a baker: "This snow will bring pleasure to the people of Iraq. It's beautiful!"</td>
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[applejuice]

The Snows of Kilimanjaro will be in Baghdad!

 

[fishface]

Our paper had this version, bolded part gave me the warm fuzzies:<br><br><a href="http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/national_world/stories/2008/01/12/Iraq_snow_0112.ART_ART_01-12-08_A6_1I91N59.html?sid=101" target="_blank">http://www.dispatch.com/live/content...9.html?sid=101</a><br><br><div style="margin:20px;margin-top:5px;">
<div class="smallfont" style="margin-bottom:2px;">Quote:</div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" width="99%"><tr><td class="alt2" style="border:1px inset;">BAGHDAD -- The flakes melted quickly. But the smiles, wonder and excited story-swapping went on throughout the day: It snowed in Baghdad.<br><br>
The morning flurry yesterday was the first in memory in the heart of the Iraqi capital. Perhaps more significant, however, was the rare ripple of delight through a city snarled by army checkpoints, divided by concrete walls and ravaged by sectarian killings.<br><br>
"For the first time in my life I saw a snow-rain like this falling in Baghdad," said Mohammed Abdul-Hussein, a 63-year-old retiree from the New Baghdad area.<br><br>
"When I was young, I heard from my father that such rain had fallen in the early '40s on the outskirts of northern Baghdad," he said, referring to snow as a type of rain. "But snow falling in Baghdad in such a magnificent scene was beyond my imagination."<br><br>
After weathering nearly five years of war, Baghdad residents thought they'd pretty much seen it all. But as muezzins were calling the faithful to prayer, the people here awoke to something certifiably new.<br><br>
Snow is common in the mountainous Kurdish areas of northern Iraq, but residents of the capital and surrounding areas could remember just hail. And that, only very occasionally.<br><br>
Summer temperatures in Baghdad are routinely a sweltering 120 degrees and winters generally mild.<br><br>
But this week has been unusually cold and blustery, with overnight temperatures more than 10 degrees below normal. On Thursday morning, the thermometer hovered around freezing after a low of 27, and the Baghdad airport closed because of low visibility.<br><br>
"I asked my mother, who is 80, whether she'd ever seen snow in Iraq before, and her answer was no," said Fawzi Karim, a 40-year-old father of five who runs a small restaurant in Hawr Rajab, a village 6 miles southeast of Baghdad.<br><br>
"This is so unusual, and I don't know whether or not it's a lesson from God," Karim said.<br><br>
Some said they'd seen snow only in movies.<br><br>
Talib Haider, a 19-year-old college student, said "a friend of mine called me at 8 a.m. to wake me up and tell me that the sky is raining snow."<br><br>
"I rushed quickly to the balcony to see a very beautiful scene," he said. "I tried to film it with my cell-phone camera. This scene has really brought me joy. I called my other friends and the morning turned out to be a very happy one in my life."<br><br>
An Iraqi who works for the Associated Press said he woke his wife and children shortly after 7 a.m. to "have a look at this strange thing." He then called his brother and sister and found them awake, also watching the "cottonlike snow drops covering the trees."<br><br>
For a couple of hours anyway, a city where mortar shells routinely zoom across the Tigris River to the Green Zone became united as one big White Zone.<br><b><br>
There were no reports of bloodshed during the snowstorm. The snow showed no favoritism as it dusted neighborhoods Shiite and Sunni alike, faintly falling (with apologies to James Joyce) upon all the living and the dead.</b></td>
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[Super Pickle]

When you live in a warm climate, snow is like a little miracle. What a delightful gift for the people of Baghdad.

 

[dianna11]

A friend of ours is from Tehran and he was telling DH last week that in the city, they got a foot of snow, all at once - and in the mountains outside of the city, <b>10 FEET</b> of snow has accumulated! They have never seen anything like it - people are dying, nobody knows how to deal with it <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/greensad.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="greensad"><img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="/img/vbsmilies/smilies/cold.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Cold">: