Winter Arrives - Snow in the Atlas

Temperatures have plunged along with a lot of rain - but if you are travelling into the hills, be aware that some roads are blocked by snow

Meanwhile, The View From Fez Team are enjoying sunshine and oysters in Oualidia.

Our thanks to Fred Sola for the snow photo.

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Moroccan Weather - More cold and rain

The Directorate of National Meteorology is forecasting more cold and wet weather for Morocco. Fez getting down to 1 Celsius up to a max of 11 or 12

Cold weather on the reliefs, the Southeast, the Oriental, the highlands, the north and the interior.- Cloudy with rain and showers sometimes thunderstorms on the Souss, Chiadma, Abda, Saïss, the High and the Middle Atlas and the plains north-west.

Moderate to heavy snowfall on the reliefs of the Atlas, the Rif, the Oriental beyond 800m.- Cloudy weather on the Tangier, the Mediterranean, the Oriental, the north of the south coast with light rain or showers.- Little to slightly cloudy sky elsewhere.

Moderate wind sector west to north over the southern provinces, from west sector on Tangierois and from southwest to west on south-east, north-west plains and reliefs.- Mineral temperatures ranging from -9 ° C to 3 ° C on the reliefs, from -1 ° C to 4 ° C on the Eastern highlands, southeastern slopes, phosphate and Oulmes plateaus, Saiss, northern Gharb and Loukkos, 4 ° C to 9 ° C on the coast, northern and central plains, Souss and from 8 ° C to 14 ° C on the southern provinces.- Maximum temperatures of -2 ° C to 4 ° C on the reliefs of the Atlas and the Rif, of 4 ° C to 9 ° C on the Oriental, the Saïss, the southeastern slopes, the phosphate and Oulmès plateaus, from 9 ° C to 14 ° C on the Mediterranean, the northern and central plains, from 15 ° C to 21 ° C in the southern provinces.

The sea was rough on the Mediterranean Sea, not so agitated on the Strait, not much agitated between Tangier and Larache, agitated with strong wind in the south.

Meanwhile, in the Sahara...

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Moroccan Photo of the Day - Snow in Ait Benhaddou

Thanks to Kritzlynn Al Taib for this photo of Ait Benhaddou after the first snowfall in 50 years!

After several decades of extremely dry weather, residents in southern regions of Morocco finally woke up this morning to an unusual snowfall that currently impacted Ouarzazate, Taroudant and even Zagora, which has not experienced snowfall for fifty years.

See more in our series Photo of the Day 

The View from Fez welcomes contributions to our Photo of the Day Series

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Weekend Weather - Morocco

The weather forecast prepared by the National Meteorological Directorate promises cold weather especially on the reliefs, the Southeast, the Oriental and the highlands

-Dense clouds on the East, the East of the Mediterranean, the Rif and probably the Saiss with rain or showers and sometimes stormy.

-Some snowfall on the Rif, the Oriental, the Middle Atlas and the North High Atlas from 800m.

Cloudy on the rest North with risk of a few scattered showers at times and cloudy sky elsewhere ..

A possibility of sand storms in the southern provinces.

- Moderate to fairly strong winds in northern sector on Central and South coasts, and weak to moderate North to East elsewhere. - Minimum temperatures of -07 to -01 ° C on the eastern hills and plateaus, from 01 to 04 ° C on the Oriental, the south-eastern slopes, the Saiss, the plateaux of phosphates and d 'Oulmès and the plains to the west of the Atlas, from 04 to 09 ° C on the Mediterranean, Tangérois, Souss and the Atlantic plains and 09 to 15 ° C on the coasts and the southern provinces. - Maximum temperatures of the order of 02 to 07 ° C on the reliefs and the oriental highlands, from 07 to 12 ° C on the Oriental, the Saiss, the plateaux of phosphates and Oulmès and on the south-east slopes, from 12 to 17 ° C on the Mediterranean, Tangier and the plains, from 17 to 22 ° C on the Souss, the central and southern coasts and the north of the southern provinces and from 22 to 27 ° C on the extreme south. -Seas a little agitated in the Mediterranean, andagitated to strong between Tangier and Casablanca, strong to very strong elsewhere.

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Snow Causes Road Closures

Strong snowfall and the difficult weather conditions that Morocco has been experiencing has caused the closure of several roads, including in Ifrane, Midelt, Al Hoceima, Taza, Azilal and Al Haouz. Ministry teams are hard at work to restore traffic. According to the latest road safety bulletin of the Ministry of Equipment and Transport, 26 roads are still cut - 3 national roads, 8 regional roads and 15 provincial roads

In its bulletin, the Ministry reports problems on the RN 2 road linking Bab Berred and Issagen (Chefchaouen-Al Hoceima province), the RN 8 road linking Taounate-Issagen-Targuisrt (Al-Hoceima province), the RN 13 road linking Timehdit and Midelt (Midelt province) ), the RR 707 road linking Ifrane and Boulemane, the RR 706 road connecting Rich-Outerbate-Bouzou (Midelt province), the RR317 road linking Imilchil-Aghbala (Midelt province).

Other roads cut off because of the snowfall,  include the RR504 connecting Ribat El Kheir and Bouiblane (province of Taza-Sefrou), the RR 507 road connecting Maghraoua and Bouiblane (province of Taza), the RR 302 road connecting Tizi N'Tirghist and Zaouit Ahansal (Azilal province), the RR 307 road linking Imin Ifri and Ait Tamlil Tizi N'sadghat (Azilal province), the RP 7215 road connecting Azrou and Ain Leuh ( Ifrane province), the RP 7231 road connecting Habri and Michlifen-Ifrane province, the road RP 7216 connecting the RN 13 and Bekrit (Ifrane province), the RP 2028 road linking Tahanaout and Oukaimden (Al province) Haouz), the road RP 3107 relined Azilal-Aitmhamed-Tabante (province of Azilal), the road RP 7319 connecting Itze-Anefgou-imilchil (province of Midelt). It should also be noted that 5 roads have been cut in the province of Boulemane.

In its newsletter, the ministry reported that 40 roads have been re-established (7 national roads, 9 regional roads and 24 provincial roads). Morocco is facing a cold snap as heavy snowfall hit the High Atlas and the Middle Atlas, from 900 meters above sea level, with temperatures reaching -5 ° C.

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Moroccan Photo of the Day

Ifrane is the destination of the winter holidays in Morocco! Travellers come from all over the world to enjoy skiing in Michlifen. Ifrane is also very popular with Moroccans for nature weekends and disconnection, in all seasons, but especially in winter, when snowfalls.

See more in our series Photo of the Day 

The View from Fez welcomes contributions to our Photo of the Day Series

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