Weather departments across the world have gone into a flurry of activity and wonder during this year’s winter, as the skies have bestowed snowfall in many unexpected regions around the globe — hill stations and deserts that have not seen snowfall in decades, or even ever, are being blessed and, on occasion, shocked with icy blankets of snow in the 2025-26 winter season.
Great Desert Whiteout
The most surprising among all, is the snowfall seen in the Atacama Desert in Chile, considered one of the driest places in the world, which experienced its first ever snowfall this winter, amazing meteorologists and residents alike. The development stalled operations in some of the most notable observatories in the world, as scientific equipment were temporarily disrupted because of the snow. After the event, scientists shared that an event like this is considered extremely uncommon, especially in areas that have remained dry for decades now. Starting from October 2025, cases of unexpectedly harsh winters and snowfall have been dominating the news, with predictions of increased tourism as well as citizens’ woes being widely discussed as well.
Equally surprising was the snowfall experienced in the Nushki desert of Balochistan, Pakistan, after a 20-year gap. This is the latest in a series of extreme weather conditions that the country has been experiencing over the past few years, with heavy downpours in summer, and harsh winters. However, locals have reportedly vouched that snowfall was an unexpected event.
This region has been facing difficult conditions due to the globally shifting weather patterns — it is also known to be one of the countries that contributes the least to global emissions. However, this desert was not the only part of Pakistan that was hit by the rough winter conditions. Alongside Nushki’s rare desert snowfall, Swat’s urban areas reportedly received snow after 16 years, while Gargari near Karak saw snowfall after 25 years, with temperatures in Karak dropping to -2°C. Power outages and deadly landslides claiming lives have also befallen this region.
The West Asian countries, known for their sand dunes and sunny climate to tourists, also managed to shock – snowfall graced parts of Saudi Arabia this winter. Catching the snow in Saudi Arabia is largely a matter of chance, and does not occur every year, only occasionally after cold front alerts and lasts for only a day or two when it does. Tabuk, Jabal al Lawz, Al Jawf and surrounding areas were the ones that received snowfall this time.
Infrastructure Under Siege
In many areas in the USA, snowfall came days earlier than usual, with schools scrambling to send children home and shut their gates in a rush due to the sudden drop in temperatures. Missouri and Oklahoma stood out, experiencing four to six feet of snowfall, without the luxury of a weather warning. Road conditions rapidly deteriorated, causing blockages, accidents and lengthy traffic jams especially in the school districts. In fact, the National Weather Service also extended an apology to the public for failing to predict a weather event of such scale so that citizens could take safety measures.
Alaska is witnessing a cold snap, with many saying that these levels of winter and snowfall were last experienced before 1990 in the state, with sporadic cold weather events over the years in isolated parts of the state. But a scenario with a large majority of the state struggling to hit -40 degrees has not been seen in decades, reports say.
The same goes for parts of Europe. Along with disruptions in daily life and transport, countries like France and Bosnia have also recorded deaths occurring due to the low temperatures and snow. Balkan countries like Serbia and Bosnia charted heavy snowfall leaving several thousands of citizens without power, and disrupted traffic to such an extent that troops had to be deployed to assist with clearing road blockades.
After witnessing the unexpectedly heavy snowfall in Kashmir in August 2025, Indians were also expecting surprises when winter arrived. However, the snowfall that followed in December 2025 and January 2026 in parts of India still left citizens shocked. This winter, Mussourie received seven continuous hours of snowfall in the second week of January, and Kasauli saw snow after a wait of four winters. In Shimla, the spell of snow arrived weeks before usual, in late December, with tourists pleasantly surprised to be caught amidst this perk in the weather, one they were not expecting to encounter.
Weather departments and observatories across the globe are in agreement that the cold waves have hit before time, and in some places occurred for the first time or after decades long gaps. Observatories, including NASA, are studying the current weather conditions and links to climate change to ascertain how these drastic changes came to be, and how they may evolve in the future.
