PHOTOS: Is It Really Snowing On Mount Kinabalu? Hikers Found Rare Ice Particles That Make It Look Like Winter

By Ammar Haziq  •  21 Sep 2020 in News

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It feels like the only way for Malaysians to experience snow is either going overseas or to one of those artificial snow places.

However, a hiker spotted ice crystals that looked like snow forming along the peak of Mount Kinabalu, Sabah on Saturday, 19 September. Wandy John shared the photos on Facebook, which went viral after Mount Kinabalu Facebook reshared it.

This isn’t the first time that snow-like frost was found at the mountain. It’s reported that this occurrence has been increasingly common between 2014 to 2017.

Photos were shared online by trekkers who had the opportunity to see the snow-like phenomenon near the mountain’s summit, which is an amazing experience.

According to a 2018 New Straits Times article, Kinabalu mountain guide association president Junaydie Sihan said the incident of having ice at the peak is rare, but it happens once or twice in a year.

He also said that during cold weather periods, trekkers won’t just see ice but something similar to frost can also be seen on the mountain side. But Sihan said that it is not snow, “they are just ice particles.”

According to ThoughtCo, both snow and frost grow from water vapor in the air, but snow forms high in the atmosphere around tiny suspended particles like dust, while frost forms closer to the ground.

That’s why you don’t see snow pouring over Mount Kinabalu!

It’s reported that temperatures on Mount Kinabalu’s peak can drop to as low as -2°C to 0°C. As the weather gets colder, it’s natural for puddles of water to freeze to form ice sheets.