Snow covers much of Syria

A heavy snowfall has caused closure of several roads across Syria which is affected by a polar low pressure, according to the traffic police department at Interior Ministry.

The snow that started to fall today at dawn in Damascus and other provinces blocked dozens of roads in Damascus countryside, Homs, Hama, Lattakia, Tartous, Sweida and Daraa.

“The main road linking Damascus and Homs was blocked off due to deep snow while Daraa-Damascus, Palmyra-Damascus and Lattakia-Tartous roads are passable with difficulties,” the department declared.

The snow and rain is due to continue to fall over much of Syria with a sharp drop in temperature to be lower than average by 7-9 °C accompanied with a southwestern wind speeds of 70 km/h.

Over the past 24 hours, rainfall reached 155 mm in Lattakia, 127 mm in Homs, 90 mm in Hama, 69 mm inTartous, 35 mm in Damascus Countryside, 25mm in Damascus, 38 mm in Quneitra, 31 mm in Idleb, 45 mm in Aleppo and 2 mm in Hasaka.

However, the depth of snow till 07:00 am [Local time] reached 15 cm in Damascus, 35 cm in Damascus Countryside, 25 cm in Quneitra, 5 cm in Lattakia and 2 cm in Sweida, according to the official news agency(SANA).

Basma Qaddour