Aïn Séfra

Aïn Séfra is a municipality in Naâma Province, Algeria. It is the district seat of Aïn Séfra District and it has a population of 34,962, which gives it 11 seats in the PMA. Its postal code is 45200 and its municipal code is 4503. It is the second most populated municipality in the province after Mécheria. It was founded in 1881 as a garrison town for the French. It is sometimes referred to as "The Gateway to the Desert".ClimateSummers are mainly hot and dry, while winters are cool to cold. Despite being in the hot Sahara desert, it snowed in 1979 and in the winter of 2016/2017. The municipality was sprinkled with some snow in December 2016, which was the first time that snow had fallen there since February 18, 1979, when a half-hour storm disrupted traffic. A freak winter storm hit the area on January 20, 2017 dumping snow in the municipality up to a metre thick in some places. This was the largest snowfall in residents' memories and had caused travel disruptions due to the roads becoming slippery with ice, while the resident children made the most of the situation by sledding on the snow-covered sand dunes and making snowmen.