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In the past few days, a “strange thing” has happened in Cameroon, an equatorial country in West Africa.
In two cities in western Cameroon, the “spectacles on earth” coincided with each other—it was snowing!
You know, these two places are only a hundred kilometers away from the equator. Cameroon is located in central Africa, with an equatorial rainforest climate on the west coast and south, and a savannah climate in the north, with an annual average temperature of 24-28°C.
This article is reproduced from the official WeChat account of Window of the South, “See World Magazine” (ID: ksj-worldview). The original article was first published on September 14, 2021, with the original title “Long live! Snow on the equator in Africa does not represent the opinion of the Outlook think tank.
1 The equator is snowing.
It is reported that the local snow spectacle occurred after consecutive days of hail and rain. The sudden drop in temperature caused the rain to freeze, so people in both places saw a rare snow scene.
For most of the locals who have never seen snow, whether the snow is abnormal has been ignored. Snow is almost as happy as a holiday.
In order to feel the beauty of the amazing snow scene to a greater extent, many local family members and friends from Youyou Resource Network gathered together on the same day, drove to the snow track, played in the snow, stepped on the snow, and had snowball fights , took a photo with Xue, and recorded it.
In the videos uploaded by local netizens on social media, we can see that although the snow is not very thick, it is enough to be called a “winter scene”.
After hearing that it was snowing on the equator, netizens from various countries on social media showed shocked faces. “Congratulations from Europe, since you have ushered in a snow in your life, from now on, get used to life surprises of snowfall from time to time.”
“Congratulations from Europe, since you welcome One of the snowfalls in your life has come, so from now on, get used to the surprises of life that snowfalls from time to time.”
“Wow, it’s really a surprise.”
“Surprised .”
This rare weather quickly attracted media attention. “It’s snowing in Cameroon” – the news on September 10 from a number of foreign media including Sputnik news agency & radio and Pakistani Urdu portal made Cameroon, an African country close to the equator, the center of discussion.
It is also reported that what appeared in this area was actually hail instead of snow. Cameroon’s comprehensive information website “Journal du Cameron” reported on the 13th that residents in the western region of the country witnessed a strange weather phenomenon for them, which later attracted national attention… However, according to the latest news, it may not be snow, but hail.
Screenshot of Cameroon website report
“The hail was initially thought to be snow,” the report said. It disrupted road traffic and destroyed some crops. The report also citesA McLombana resident had this to say: “It was raining hard and the hail was coming down hard. We could feel the hail hitting our roofs. But when I saw the road was blocked we were all very nervous. Surprised.” The report specifically mentioned that residents began to think that it was snowing.
In addition, there are many rumors on Twitter. The Ministry of Transport, which oversees Cameroon’s National Meteorological Center, denied claims of snowfall in places such as Bana in the western region, said a Twitter user named Mimi Me Youyoufo Info with a profile of the online news reporting site. Minister Ernest Engalle noted in a press release that these were hailstones. A press release was attached to the tweet.
Twitter user Mimi Mefo Info posted that the Ministry of Transport, which oversees Cameroon’s National Meteorological Center, denied claims of snowfall in places such as Bana in the western region. Minister Ernest Engalle noted in a press release that these were hailstones.
According to the Du Cameron website, some meteorologists attribute this phenomenon to heavy rainfall and climate change in recent years. Gervais Yongchang, a Chinese meteorologist and deputy director of the Meteorological Application Department of the Ministry of Transport, said the hail came from a strong thunderstorm and when it spread into the soil, it gave the impression of snowfall.
The report also stated that the phenomenon witnessed in Bana will not be the last of this rainy season. According to the weather forecast of Cameroon’s Ministry of Transport, heavy rainfall accompanied by hail can still be observed in the central, northern and western parts of the country throughout the rainy season.
Whether it is snow or hail, at the beginning of September, at the equator, where there should not be snow and ice, it is enough to make people feel shocked.
2Global Climate Change
Most of the equator has no ice. The average temperature of 30 degrees Celsius makes snow only form in some special areas on the equator, that is, high-altitude mountains and high mountain areas on the equator, such as Mount Kilimanjaro, one of the highest peaks in Africa, and Mount Kenya, the second highest peak.
As for the strange snowfall on the equatorial plain, the local mayor said that this phenomenon is very rare, which shows that global climate change is indeed happening.
Climate change is not new to many people. Today, Africa is experiencing more unusual climate change.
At the end of July this year, there was a historic drop in temperature across South Africa, with the temperature dropping to a historical low of 19 degrees, and some areas were accompanied by snowfall. Then in recent days Cameroon has been emptied of snow. Winter is getting colder and colder, and the equator is suddenly hit by hail and snow. These are not normal signs.
Not only in Africa, but also in the Philippines, an equatorial country in Asia, people who have never seen snow for more than 100 years have also witnessed small hailstones from time to time in the past two years.
Snow in these countries may be a surprise in people’s daily life, but the global climate crisis behind the surprise cannot be ignored.
This summer, European and American countries have staged climate disasters one after another. German and Belgian towns have suffered catastrophic flooding,The US state of Tennessee suffered severe flooding and New York experienced historic heavy rainfall.
Tennessee suffered a severe flood in the summer.
Recently, some scientists said that the increase in temperature has led to the reduction of Arctic ice floes, and the predation and activity capabilities of polar bears have declined seriously. Polar bears in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago have begun using inbreeding to prevent their population from rapidly becoming extinct.
It snows at the equator and springs at the North Pole. The dominoes of the climate crisis really seem to be starting to fall one by one.