An Emirati snowman posing with United Arab Emirates flags has caused a Twitter storm as the Gulf countries were hit by Arctic blasts and up to 10cm of snow.

Stunned UAE residents have been sharing their snaps and videos on Twitter to demonstrate the scale of the freak weather.

Temperatures plummeted to -2.9 degrees Celsius in mountainous parts of the country yesterday, according to the UAE's National Centre of Meteorology and Seismology.

Chilling out: An Emirati snowman poses for the camera on Jebel Jais, a mountain in the Emirate of Ras al-Khaimah

Twitter user @mzinelsawari was not deterred by the weather warnings, and scaled Jebel Jais in Ras al-Khaimah to build the somewhat serious snow sculpture.

A video of the happy chappy shows him enjoying the Arctic weather.

Dozens of Arabs scaled the mountain in the UAE to enjoy the bizarre conditions by spending the day sledging.

A tourist website said: 'It was a fun adventure-filled weekend in Jebel Jais as thousands of people came to enjoy the snow-covered highest mountain peak in the UAE.'

Dozens of Arabs scaled the highest mountain in the UAE to enjoy the bizarre conditions by spending the day sledging. Tourist website RAKTourism said: 'It was a fun adventure filled weekend in Jebel Jais as thousands of people came to enjoy the snow covered highest mountain peak in the UAE.'

Jebel Jais looked bleak under its blanket of snow after temperatures as low as -2.9 degrees Celsius hit the Arabian Gulf

Whiteout: stunned locals had to battle blizzards and freezing temperatures as the freak weather hit the area this weekend

The weather has not been cause for celebration nationwide though.

Winds of between 75 and 80km per hour ripped across the UAE, causing a crane to topple over onto the main highway running through Dubai on Friday.

One person was injured and three cars were destroyed in a fire sparked by the collapse of the crane, local officials said.

The scene of the blaze after a crane came crashing down onto a busy highway in Dubai on Friday, according to news site The Gulf Today

High winds also caused a crane to collapse on the main highway running through Dubai, disrupting traffic in the heart of the Mideast's commercial hub in the city on Friday

Elsewhere in the region, professional cyclists were disappointed when a stage of the Tour of Dubai had to be cancelled due to the high winds.

Race organisers said on Friday: 'Based on the poor current weather conditions in Hatta, and the forecast for further deterioration later, the race management, in agreement with the commissaries panel, have applied the UCI's extreme weather protocol and have cancelled today's stage four of the Dubai Tour.'