When the temperature falls below freezing, then snow will drop down from the sky. While this could lead to insane colds, the sight of snow filling your environment is would make for a wonderful scene, however, when talking about snow, it is always North American, European, and Asian countries that come to mind. In Africa, snow is quite uncommon, however, several countries like South Africa do get to see those white flakes fall during the winter season
Does It Snow in Nigeria?
No, it does not snow in Nigeria. Unlike temperate countries where snow is a regular occurrence during the winter season, Nigeria being a tropical country has never and will never experience snow. To understand why it does not snow in Nigeria, you need to know what snow is and the climate required for snow to fall.
What is snow?
When the temperature drops near or below zero degree Celsius, the amount of moisture in the air is reduced to a minimum to give solid precipitation which occurs as ice crystals called snow. While this brings the chills, it is a striking weather phenomenon that leads to a beautiful transformation
How Does Snow Form?
Precipitation can only fall as snow when the air temperature drops below 2 degrees Celsius. This means it doesn’t have to be zero degrees for snow to occur. In temperature countries, the temperature drops to way below zero degrees in the winter which makes it easy for slight, moderate, or heavy snow to cover the cities. Nigeria being a tropical country barely experiences these days of extreme cold. Even during the rainy and harmattan season, it is rare for the temperature to drop to two degrees Celsius.
However, there are some areas in Nigeria that could potentially experience snow, though not consistently. Some areas in the Jos Plateau and in Taraba can reach the minimum temperature required for snow to fall, however, there is yet to any record of snow falling in these areas.
How cold does it have to be to snow?
You could feel extremely cold and no snow in your area and that’s because snow can only occur at a certain temperature. For snow to happen, atmospheric water vapour needs to be frozen into ice crystals which can only happen at an extremely low temperature of below two degrees Celsius.
Note that even while the temperature drops below such levels, there are different types of snowfall that would be experienced. It could be slight, moderate, or heavy.
Conditions Required for Snow
Low – Freezing Temperature
It must be below two degrees Celsius for snow to form in the clouds and near the ground. In some cases, winter precipitation might not fall as snow but rather sleet or freezing rain.
Atmospheric Lift
This describes a phenomenon in which moist air is raised to form clouds and causes frozen precipitation. When warm air collides with cold air and is forced to rise over the frigid air mass, snow is created. This process requires low – freezing temperatures to occur.
Countries in Africa Where It Snows
There have been reports of snow in Africa, however, they are not a regular occurrence.
- In 2013, Cairo experience the beauty of Winter, an event that would take another 100 years to reoccur.
- In 2018, snow was reported in Algeria and was the fifth snowfall in 40 years in the country.
- Snow is more common in South Africa where it is almost an annual occurrence on its mountains.
Wrapping
This article should help you to understand why it doesn’t snow in Nigeria, yet it does snow in some parts of Africa. There have been rumours of snow in some parts of Nigeria, especially the Jos Plateau area, however, none of this is confirmed. You should also take note of the difference between hail and snow. Hail does occur in Nigeria and is very different from snow.