The famous Sahara Desert is the largest hot desert on the planet and resides in the Northern parts of Africa, where temperatures can climb to the upper 130º Fahrenheit figures.
Nevertheless, this Winter was quite a surprising one, as snow appears to have fallen on the sand plains for what appears to be the first time in 37 years, and only the second time in living memory.
The following photograph was snapped on December 19th in a town in the middle of the Saraha known as Ain Sefra, Algeria by amateur photographer Karim Bouchetata, and shows what look like small white blankets of snow covering the desert sand:
Image Credit: Karim Bouchetata/Geoff Robinson Photography
“Everyone was stunned to see snow falling in the desert; it is such a rare occurrence,” Mr Bouchetata said about the rare occurrence. “It looked amazing as the snow settled on the sand and made a great set of photos. The snow stayed for about a day and has now melted away.”
Although the Sahara Desert can get hot during the Summer months, just about all deserts are known to have the ability to cool off drastically either during the Winter or even at night on a Summer day.
Temperatures can easily drop below 41º Fahrenheit during the Summer, but it’s still rare for snow to occur even in the Winter when it reaches 32º Fahrenheit, the freezing point of water. This is because the Sahara Desert is a dry place, and in order for snow to happen, there needs to be a presence of moisture to freeze.
You can bet this was an exciting experience for Bouchetata and anyone else who had the chance to observe it when it happened, but now that the ice has all melted away, it should be interesting to see when it will happen again, or if, especially with all this hubbub about global warming.
Source: CNN
