By Crispin Thorold
BBC News, Amman
There have been a number of deaths and considerable damage to crops in the Middle East as temperatures in the region have fallen to exceptional lows.
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In Syria, temperatures have dropped to minus 16 degrees Celsius. There has been widespread damage to crops in Syria, Jordan and Israel.
There has also been snow in the Iraqi capital Baghdad for the first time in living memory.
The Middle East is a region used to extremes of temperature - but not ones like these.
Kuwaiti meteorologists are eagerly watching thermometers to see if the previous low recorded in the open desert, minus four degrees Celsius in 1964, could be broken in the coming days.
Some in the Jordanian government are worried that food prices may increase, giving inflation another unwelcome bump.
But reports from Israel suggest the weather may not be bad news for everyone.
Some farmers are suffering, but there has been a jump in the sale of heaters and warm clothes, with retailers saying the demand for some goods has tripled.
This cold snap has been caused by a weather system that began in Siberia.
But meteorologists in the region cannot agree whether it is the result of climate change; the director of Baghdad's Meteorology Department reportedly said it could be, his counterpart in Amman disagrees.
(BBC)
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