TEHRAN — Mid-autumn snow has caught some of cities in the western part of Iran by surprise to the extent that the temperature plummeted to 4 to 6 degrees below zero.

The provinces of Ardebil, Hamedan, Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari, Ilam, Kermanshah, and Lorestan have experienced drastic temperature drop over the weekend, Mehr news agency reported.

Additionally, heavy snow in the province of Ardebil last week made officials to shut down schools.

It is predicted that precipitations will start again by Sunday in the western provinces of the country and will last until Monday.

Despite early snow fall in some of the provinces of Iran it is projected that the average precipitations would be less compared to the long term indices and the autumn would not be as wet as expected.

MQ/MG