First snow for 100 years falls on Baghdad

Creation Groans AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE - January 11, 2008 Light snow fell in Baghdad early on Friday in what weather officials said was the first time in about a 100 years. Rare snowfalls were also recorded in the west and centre of Iraq, plunging temperatures to zero degrees Centigrade (32 degrees Fahrenheit) and even colder, an official said. The snow in Baghdad, which melted as it hit the ground, began falling before dawn and continued until after 9 am, residents said. "Snow has fallen in Baghdad for the first time in about a century as a result of two air flows meeting," said a statement by the meteorology department. "The first one was cold and dry and the second one was warm and humid. They met above Iraq." The director of the meteorology department, Dawood Shakir, told AFP that climate change was possibly to blame for the unusual event. "It's very rare," he said. "Baghdad has never seen snow falling in living memory. "These snowfalls are linked to the climate change that is happening everywhere. We are finding some places in the world which are warm and are supposed to be cold." Snow was also reported in the mountainous Kurdish north of the country, where falls are common. http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080111120350.qe0gt6lt&show_article=1 FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of religious, environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.