The long awaited white visitor has arrived to Jordan, after a couple of dry cold fronts it came and quickly melted. It didn't even accumulate but it brought in lots of joy and happiness to people eager for it.
As soon as it started snowing in the mountainous regions of Jordan (around 1,000 meters above sea level), a flow of tweets and Facebook posts, along with photographs and videos, started making the rounds on social media. In Jordan, citizen journalism plays it's role very well since almost everyone owns a smart phone connected to the Internet at all times.
Netizens were not only commenting on the snow and weather, but giving their followers updates on traffic caused by snow as well as warnings of slippery roads here and there.
Hanin Abu-Shamat, @HaninSh [1], tweeted [2] this photograph of snow falling in her area in Amman:
[2]Snow in Amman, Jordan. Photo credit: Hanin Abu Shamat, shared on Twitpic
Elwan Bader, @kharooof [3] tweeted [4] this picture from Queen Rania Street in Amman, aka University Street:
[4]A photograph of snow on Queen Rania Street in Amman. Photo shared on Twitter by Alwan Bader
@BaselAnabtawi [5] lives in Dubai, UAE, and he tweeted [6] this picture on behalf of his sister who lives in Amman:
Man, the view from our house in Amman! It's snowing .. My sister just sent me this! Mashallah, enjoy it #amman
[6]Snow from Basel Anabtawi sister's house in Amman, Jordan. Photo shared on Twitter
The photograph tweeted [7] by Dima Haddadin (@Haddadin [8]) of a young man directing traffic in one of Amman's traffic lights after it broke down gave Jordanians online a sense of pride of how the everyday citizens can help solve a big problem such as traffic. People talked about the photograph and shared it on all social networks:
[9]A young Jordanian directs traffic after the traffic sign broke down. Photo shared by Dima Haddadin on yfrog
Netizens also shared numerous videos of snowfall across Jordan. Here are videos I shared [10] on YouTube showing snow falling in two different areas in Amman:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlX7_mEPf8Y [11]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4m9D1oD24Y [12]
All in all, snow brings joy and happiness to the people of Jordan and hope that the upcoming cold fronts would bring more snow to the lower areas in Amman, which fall below 1,000m above sea level.