North Africa hit hard by heavy snow

In Algeria, snow has fallen in 14 provinces, forcing people to stay indoors and bringing traffic to a standstill.

In parts of the coastal region, where few people have heating in their homes, bodyeratures have fallen to 3 degrees Celsius. In the interior, around the towns of Djelfa and Setif, they have been down to zero.

The situation has been the same in parts of Tunisia. In Kasserine, in eastern Tunisia, residents reported that it had been freezing for the past week.

Local charity workers in the region were drafted in to help distribute food, medicine and clothes to residents cut off by the snowfalls.

In neighboring Libya, residents complain that it has been the coldest winter in living memory.

In Tripoli last week, resident were covered up in pullovers, overcoats and scarves as chill winds, rain, gray skies and low bodyeratures made the city look more like somewhere in northern Europe near on the edge of the Sahara.

In nearby Gharian in the Nafusa mountains, south of the capital, snow blanketed the town last week causing chaos for residents whose only problems with the weather usually are having to cope with excessive bodyeratures in summer.