Kenya enjoys rare snowy feel, but meteo agency says it was hail storm

Kenyans on Tuesday evening took to social media to celebrate a rare case of snow falling in the East African country.

Photos and videos shared on social media showed whitish substance on the streets of the town of Nyahururu located in the country’s Laikipia County.

The Kenyan Meteorological Agency, however, clarified and explained that the incident was a case of rare hail storm and not snow. ‘‘For it to snow temperatures are usually below 0°C,” they explained.

The event in Nyahururu is a hail storm. Such storms occurs when there is abrupt convection and rain clouds form too fast.

— Kenya Met Department (@KenyaMetService) July 4, 2017

Yup turns out that global warming isn't “#fakenews“ after all #snow in equatorial #Kenya pic.twitter.com/gJqxeOjZqw

— Allison Dunn (@a1dunn) July 4, 2017

Never in My life have i ever witnessed snow in Kenya!!Today be hold Disembe CNN In Nyahururu #RailaInKiambu #RealityofClimatechangeinKenya pic.twitter.com/sr6E68fi86

— KENYAN BOY (@ElectionKe2017) July 4, 2017

Many astonished as #snow falls in #Kenya for the first time ever! #ClimateChange or #EndTime signs? … Gidi_Traffic pic.twitter.com/Wvbdt72MRE

— Bounce News Nigeria (BounceNewsNg) July 5, 2017

We have snow in Kenya #Nyahururu pic.twitter.com/cHdGlaBhUq

— Mr. John (@jonimost) July 4, 2017

FRIGHTENING: Heavy snow in Central Kenya today- first ever! Wonder whether it's just climate change! UNEP EnvAgency dailynation nbstv pic.twitter.com/LcrQQX8MFy

— Kifefe Kizza-Besigye (@kizzabesigye1) July 4, 2017

Zambians enjoy snowy feel in May

Zambians in the capital Lusaka and surrounding towns in May had their fair share of the snowy feel as residents woke up one morning to find streets and backyards filled with ice.

In the case of Zambia, local news portals reported that the incident was as a result of a rare hail storm that fell after a heavy rainfall the previous night.

Snow rarely falls in Africa but on mountains in South Africa, the Maghreb and on Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro. However, hailstones do fall sometimes in southern Africa when the temperature hits record lows.