In 1754, Morocco witnessed one of its rarest winters, when heavy snow blanketed Fez and Rabat, an event so extraordinary it became known as «Aam Tlija», the Year of the Snowfall. Chroniclers described it as a divine sign, recalling how residents struggled to clear their roofs and streets of snow they had never seen before. Giving nicknames to memorable years has long been a deeply rooted Moroccan tradition, practiced for generations. Moroccans have marked difficult or remarkable times with names that capture their collective memory, such as «The Year of Hunger» or «Aam l-boun», referring to the severe famine and rationing period between 1940 and 1947; «The Year of the Americans» ('Aam l-Merikan'), recalling the landing of U.S. troops during World War II; or «The Year of March» (1884), when long-awaited rain finally arrived in March after a devastating drought, allowing limited sowing. This same tradition takes us back to 1754, when an extraordinary weather event struck Morocco. That year, Moroccans witnessed one of the rarest winters in memory, as snow blanketed the cities of Rabat and Fez. That is why the year became known as «'Aam Tlija», «The Year of the Snowfall». The snow lasted only a few days, yet it was abundant enough to astonish the two cities where snow was virtually unknown. The event first occurred in Fez, where, on December 31, 1753, a heavy and continuous snowfall was recorded, according to Moroccan historian Mohammed ibn al-Tayyib al-Qadiri in his 18th-century biographical chronicle Nashr al-Mathani. «On Monday, the 6th of Rabi' al-Awwal, in the year 1167 AH (1754 CE), a heavy and intense snowfall struck Fez», wrote al-Qadiri in the fourth chapter of Nashr al-Mathani, under a section titled «Events of the Year». When Fez Awoke to a White Dawn The snowfall began at sunset and continued throughout the night until midday the next day. It left the city unrecognizable, «filling the rooftops of houses, piling up to more than the height of a cubit (about half a meter)», al-Qadiri noted. Residents feared their roofs might collapse under the weight of the snow, which covered homes, shops, streets, and even nearby mountains. «It was considered one of the signs of God», the historian wrote. Unable to cope with such conditions, Fez's inhabitants resorted to shoveling the snow off their roofs into the alleys using wooden planks, as if pushing out their very souls». Al-Qadiri observed that «nothing like it had ever been seen before, nor after». Even after clearing it, the snow did not melt easily, filling the streets and causing great hardship, though, he added, «God spared them from further harm». A few days later, more snow fell, but this time rain soon followed, melting it away. Snow in Rabat It was an equally harsh winter farther west, in Rabat, where snow fell in a rare and remarkable event. The Rabat-based historian and traveler Mohammed al-Du'ayf, in his Tarikh al-Du'ayf, a key source on the reign of Sultan Mohammed ben Abdallah, also described the event: «In Rabat, a great snowfall occurred at night, something we had never seen before, and none of the elderly people we asked could recall ever witnessing anything like it». The snowfall struck the coastal city on the night of January 28, 1754, al-Du'ayf wrote, adding that it soon became known among Moroccans as «The Year of the Snowfall». He even referred to the earlier snowfall in Fez, noting that its end was viewed as a sign of «divine mercy» after an awe-inspiring and rare climatic event.
