When you think of Africa, snow is one of the last things that springs to mind. Images of tropical beaches, deserts, jungles, safaris and cities under a beating sun are more likely to be evoked at the mention of the continent.
However, there are a number of places in Africa where the chances of seeing snow at the right time of year are much higher than expected, and not just on the peaks of its highest mountains – although they do help.
The tallest mountain in Africa is Kilimanjaro, in Tanzania. This mountain is cooler than the rest of Africa due to equatorial trade winds and high-altitude anti-trades.
On the peak, it can be as low as -15 to -29 degrees Celsius, but this happens more often from June to September – it’s winter in the southern hemisphere.
Rwenzori Mountain is on Uganda’s border with the Central African Republic and is so cold it has glaciers, snow and ice with temperatures ranging from 20 degrees Celsius to -5 degrees or lower.
In northern hemisphere Africa, Morocco is the closest African country to Spain, so the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean encircle it.
In winter temperatures can be as low as -5 degree Celsius to -8 degree Celsius, with snow most likely between December and February.
Algeria and Ethiopia have both also experienced snow during cold winters.
Back in the southern hemisphere, South Africa has a unique climate and can experience freezing winters, from June to August, with temperatures as low as -16 degrees Celsius, due to its proximity to the South Pole.
The most unusual, is the lesser-known country of Lesotho, which borders South Africa. During the same winter months, temperatures can often reach 0 degrees Celsius, with the chance of snow .
Lesotho is completely landlocked within the southern part of South Africa. It is the only country on Earth where every inch of its territory sits more than 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) above sea level.
This high-altitude terrain contributes to its likelihood of snowfall. The winter months, from June to August, are when Lesotho is more likely to witness snowfall, but can also happen in spring. It has one ski resort as a result.
Being surrounded entirely by South Africa makes Lesotho not only landlocked but also one of just three enclave countries in the world.
The two others are San Marino and Vatican City (both surrounded entirely by Italy). In spring this year there was late season snow in Lesotho and closer parts of South Africa.
Most of the snow fell in the Maloti–Drakensberg mountains, which span about 40,000 square kilometers (15,000 square miles) across Lesotho and South Africa.
Jennifer Fitchett, a scientist at the University of the Witwatersrand, said there are about eight incidents of snow fall in Lesotho each year.
Last September there was a very early instance. She said: “However, snow of this geographic extent and depth is indeed very unusual in general, and for this (spring) time of the year.”
Images obtained by the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) on NASA’s Terra satellite, show the extent of the snowfall on September 22 and another shows the same area on September 3, several weeks before the storm.
The heavy snow was fueled by a strong low-pressure system that became cut off from the main flow of air, also known as a cut-off low.
Ms Fitchett used NOAA’s air mass back-trajectory model to show that this snowfall event originated over the Southern Ocean and moved northeast, then curved northwest toward southern Africa.
