Saudi Arabia’s NEOM turns into winter wonderland

Snow fell in Saudi Arabia’s futuristic city, NEOM, on Friday, turning its landscape into a winter wonderland, just days after its sand dunes hosted the Dakar Rally with sunny weather.

Saudi Arabian Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki al-Faisal shared photos of the snow in NEOM on his social media.

Being built in northwest Saudi Arabia, NEOM is slated to become a top tourist destination in the Middle East and will incorporate smart city technologies.

A cross-border city on the coastline of the Red Sea, NEOM has $500 billion in planned financial support from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) and is expected to be an eco-friendly project with state-of-the-art technology. It is part of Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 reform plan.

NEOM is set to be home and workplace for more than one million people from around the world, according to its website.

Its land mass will extend across the Egyptian and Jordanian borders, rendering it the first private zone to span three countries.

The message behind NEOM’s name is “new future.” The first three characters “NEO” comes from the Latin word which means “new.” The fourth character “M” is the abbreviation of the Arabic word “Mostaqbal” which means “future.”