Sahara Desert Witnesses Snowfall Due To Drop In Temperature; Watch Video

Past year the town, known as "The Gateway to the Desert" saw deep snow shortly after Christmas and it caused chaos, with passengers stranded on buses after the roads became slippery and icy.

Geoff Robinson Photography/REX/Shutterstock Snow in the Sahara Desert near the town of Ain Sefra, Algeria.

The last recorded snowfall in Ain Sefra occurred in February 1979.

It's almost impossible to put a firm number on how many times snow has fallen in the Sahara, a University of Cologne geologist who has been researching the desert's climate for years, told The New York Times on Tuesday. Cold air that caused heavy snowfall on the East Coast crossed the Atlantic, making temperatures drop in unexpected places, like the Sahara.

"It is so rare that it's a whole year since it last happened", joked Michael Mann, a distinguished professor of atmospheric science and the director of the Earth System Science Center at Penn State University. There was snow last year, CNN reported, but before that the last recorded snowfall was almost 40 years ago.

The town, which is surrounded by hot desert and not used to managing snow, experienced some difficulties with icy roads.

Children from Ain Sefra enjoyed the winter wonderland in which they found themselves, building snowmen and sliding down the ice-covered dunes in sleds.

The snowfall in the Sahara is only one of the various extreme weather occurrences that are happening around the globe.

Snowfall is something which we usually see in hilly areas but this winter a thick coat of white snow can be seen in Sahara Dessert, the largest hot desert in the world.