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Arabian Snow: Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah Gets Coated in White

Well that's unusual. The United Arab Emirates - a hot, wealthy area known for building elaborate indoor skiing complexes - recently experienced its first real snowfall in a generation. The northern emirate of Ras al Khaimah reported that a five kilometer area in its Jebel Jais mountain range was blanketed with ten centimeters of snow on Friday, a situation so rare that the local dialect doesn't even have a word for it.

UAE residents marveled at the news, which was splashed across the front page of local papers, and many hoped to experience the white stuff for themselves. Unfortunately for them, the mountainous area has no roads, with the only access by helicopter. (Still, don't more than a few Emiratis own helicopters?) Of course, a handful of influential locals got to toss a few snowballs before it melted. Crown Prince Sheikh Saud Bin Saqr Al Qasimi got a lift into the area to marvel at the snow, even bringing some back to share with his subjects. Nice guy, that Sheikh.

Visitors to the UAE shouldn't hold out any hope for further flurries, though. Temperatures are above freezing once again in the mountains, and so hot on the coast that they're building an air-conditioned beach.

[Photo: AFP]

Related Stories:
· This is the Frozen North ... of the UAE [The National]
· Cold Snap Brings Gulf Rare Snow [BBC News]
· People Rush to RAK as Snow Starts to Melt [gulfnews.com]
· Snow Coverage [Jaunted]

Tags: Parking / Snow / → All Tags

Boston's Cone Wars

Want to blend in stay safe while you are visiting Charlestown or Southie during the winter? Then you better know the parking rules.

Parking is limited enough in these bastions of Irish-Catholic, old-school, Boston neighborhoods, but when it snows, things get a little nuts.

On the day directly following the snow storm most Townies/Southies are out and about shoveling out their cars and helping others do so as well. However, once your car is shoveled out, most seasoned Townies/Southies throw a bright orange cone down to claim their spot while they are off at work, getting gas, or at the grocery store. Lawn chairs, ironing boards, and trash barrels are all perfectly acceptable spot savers.

There are a couple hard and fast rules to keep in mind as you venture into this white washed modern day version of Manifest Destiny:

·   Once you shovel out, feel free to put a cone down. Once a decent amount of time has passed, say 48 hours, maybe longer after a bigger storm, or shorter after a smaller one, remove the cone and resume regular first come first server parking procedures.

·   Don't be a cone lingerer or a pre-mature coner. For example, you can't watch "Stormwatch" at 6pm then go out and put a cone in your spot while you run to the store for milk the night before a storm.  

·   Unless people have broken these rules, don't touch the cones.

We know what you are saying, "No one *owns* a resident parking spot", "Ooo, I am scared, what happens if I touch the cones." Well, no, no one does own a resident parking spot, but go ahead and move a cone that was placed correctly and watch what happens.

Sure there is no legal precedent here, but when in Boston, if you find yourself on these neighborhood streets before, after or during a storm, now you know what the hell all those bright orange cones are about.

Does this happen in other cities? Let us know.

Related Stories:
·   Parking Marker Compromise Sought [Boston.com]

Tags: Skiing / Snow / → All Tags

New features for the Western ski season

With ski season just around the corner, resorts in the West are gearing up by adding new features. CNN rounds up the new additions in seven states: California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. Changes include additional high-speed quad lifts at Kirkwood in California and Breckenridge in Colorado, 400 new acres and five new runs at Idaho's Schweizer Mountain, the closing of a 39-year-old aerial tram in Jackson Hole and new lodges at Alta, Snowbird and Solitude in Utah.

Related Stories
·   Western resorts spruce up for ski season [CNN]