Al Ain: Meteorologists have forecast the likelihood of frost or snowfall on the summit of UAE’s highest mountain, Jebel Jais, as a cold snap is expected to grip the country from Wednesday evening.

The national weather bureau has warned of unstable weather that will cause rain almost all over the UAE. It has also predicted a fall in temperature that could be bitter in the mountainous region. Temperatures can drop down to 10 degrees Celcius.

The conditions could be freezing in higher altitudes such as the peak of Jebel Jais which is some 5,700 feet high above the sea, and lies 25 kilometres from Ras Al Khaimah’s downtown area.

The National Centre of Meteorology and Seismology (NCMS) has advised people to be cautious in unstable weather and refrain from venturing into wadis that are prone to flash flooding. Fishermen have also been warned not to venture out to sea during the unstable weather.

A forecaster said the weather system was generated by an atmospheric low pressure system that has swept in from over the Mediterranean Sea. This has caused heavy rain in Saudi Arabia, UAE, and some other Gulf countries, causing infrastructure damage and human losses.

“Snowfall or frost forming is a rare phenomenon in the UAE but it does occur on Jebel Jais,” said the forecaster. When water vapour freezes into tiny crystals and falls from the clouds it is called snow. Frost is the deposition of air moisture on a surface that gets cold to water freezing point, he explained.

The first ever snowfall in the UAE was reported in December 2004 when meteorologists spotted a while blanket over the summit of Jebel Jais. It was reported falling at night due to the temperature dropping to as low as minus five degrees Celsius. The phenomenon had stunned the people living in the Emirates.

A similar event happened again in January last year when the air wing of Ras Al Khaimah Police spotted a thick layer of frost on the same mountain peak. “It’s a rare phenomenon but could even have happened previously but nobody had noticed it before,” said the forecaster.