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Winter is breathing down our necks, with temperatures already significantly dropping in a long-awaited cold wave after a longer-than-expected summer. In Morocco, frosty waves are not a first. They are recurring periods that have marked the meteorological history of the country. So, grab your coats, gloves, and scarves as we revisit the coldest years Moroccans ever witnessed.
1770s : Drought, floods, diseases and a freezing winter for Moroccans
This takes us back to the 1770s, a decade sadly marked by a series of weather and natural catastrophes. One might even go so far as to call this period the worst ten years in the history of natural disasters in Morocco. Historical records show that between 1770 and 1779, Moroccans endured an epidemic disease in 1778, famine and a locust invasion from 1778 to 1779, a drought from 1775 to 1779, an earthquake in 1773, and storms, floods, a heatwave, and freezing weather from 1775 to 1778.
In a study on public health during the first century of Alaouite rule in Morocco (1670–1790), archaeologist Allan R. Meyers lists the natural disasters that occurred in the 17th and 18th centuries. Among these events was a cold wave in 1778. The latter followed a heatwave that hit the country in 1777, as noted in «Famine Relief and Imperial Policy in Early Modern Morocco: The Political Functions of Public Health».
On a more global scale, the dropping temperatures in Morocco may have been impacted by what Europe was experiencing at the time. The 1770s recorded some of the coldest winters in Europe, in what was later known as the Great Frost or Le Grand Hiver.
While Europe’s cold winters—freezing rivers and causing deaths, particularly in France and England—occurred primarily in the early 1700s, notably in 1709, the cooling temperatures across the Mediterranean and in Morocco might have been part of the global Little Ice Age.
This term refers to a period of cooler global temperatures that occurred roughly between the early 14th century and the mid-19th century. According to Britannica, this period saw temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere decline by 0.6 °C (1.1 °F) relative to the average temperature between 1000 and 2000 CE.
1956, and other notable cold waves
In Morocco, temperature data over the last 75 years bring us back to the 1950s. The coldest winter in Morocco during this period was in 1956, with an average temperature of 11.8 °C (December to February).
In 2008, a cold wave hit the Maghreb region, accompanied by deadly floods. In Algeria, it claimed 93 lives. In Morocco, torrential rains, a cold wave, and snowfalls affected several provinces in October of that year, as noted in Humanitarian Logistics: Meeting the Challenge of Preparing for and Responding to Disasters. This disaster claimed 70 lives and left many families homeless, forcing them into temporary shelters.
One of the more pronounced cold waves in the North African kingdom was recorded in 2016. According to data shared by ReliefWeb, a specialized digital service of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), this cold wave affected Morocco on February 27, 2016, «caused by a polar air mass flow passing from the North Pole to Europe and North Africa».
Consequently, the Middle Atlas and northern High Atlas, along with neighboring plains, faced severe thunderstorms and significant snowfall over the High and Middle Atlas, the Rif, and the eastern highlands. The authorities mobilized human and material resources to assist the most affected populations at the time. Regions heavily affected by this cold wave included Oriental, Tadla Azilal, and four localities in Fes Taza.
The following winter, in 2017, another cold wave swept across Morocco, affecting most cities. Temperatures dropped as low as -13 degrees Celsius in high-altitude areas and between -2 and 0 degrees Celsius in the country’s interior.
Regions in the east, north, and south were particularly impacted. These low temperatures were attributed to a mass flow of polar air from the Arctic to Eastern Europe and North Africa.
This time, the cold prompted authorities, under royal instructions, to respond with a special program aimed at aiding the affected populations.
