(IFP) -- Imam Khomeini Airport’s runway has been closed due to heavy snowfall and attempts are made to clear the runway at Mehrabad Airport in central Tehran.

Since mid-January until now, some Iranian cities have witnessed rainfall and snowfall despite the fact that the country as a whole is facing lack of rainfall and precipitation since the start of the raining season compared to last year.

Earlier, Iran’s Deputy Energy Minister, Rahim Meidani, had noted that this year’s drought is unprecedented in the past 50 years.

Noting that there has been no good rainfall in the current Iranian calendar year, he said the situation in provinces located in arid and semi-arid areas such as Markazi, Qom, Semnan, Tehran, Alborz, and Isfahan provinces is way different than winters of few years ago.

This Iranian official also noted that in provinces where good rainfall was expected, like Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Lorestan, Hamadan and Kurdistan, the precipitation rate declined dramatically.

“Precipitation was only normal in Ardabil and Golestan provinces,” he added, a Farsi report by Tasnim said.

According to Iran’s meteorological organization Iran has experienced a 56-percent decrease in average precipitation over the period from September 23 to December 25 compared to the same period in the long run.

Moreover, nearly 96 percent of Iran’s total area is suffering from different levels of prolonged drought.