Snow-Clad Dunes Witnessed in the Sahara Desert
New Delhi: The Sahara Desert experienced snowfall due to extremely cold temperatures in the Ain Sefra town of Northwestern Algeria on Tuesday, January 18, 2022. This rare phenomenon has occurred for the fifth time in 42 years.
The sand and the dunes were covered in a blanket of snow after temperatures dropped to below freezing. According to the locals, the night temperatures dropped to as low as -2 degrees Celsius (28 degrees Fahrenheit) in the world’s largest desert.
The temperatures usually drop to 136.4 degrees Fahrenheit or 58 degrees Celsius at night during winters in the desert. The ice created stunning patterns on the sand. The high-pressure systems generate cold air and move from the lands towards the barren desert in the Algerian region, thereby causing lower near-freezing temperatures.
These anti-cyclones move clockwise from Central Asia and pick moisture before reaching Saudi Arabia. The moisture coupled with cold winds cools on reaching the atmospheric surface and precipitates in the form of snow.
The Ain Sefra is also known as the Gateway to the Desert and lies 3,000 feet above mean sea level, surrounded by the Atlas Mountains. The Sahara covers a majority of the Northern African region. The desert underwent several shifts in temperatures, climatic conditions, and moisture content for the past hundred thousand years.
Scientists expect the dry tropical desert to become green again in nearly 15,000 years.
The Aseer region of the Sahara was shrouded in the snow last year, as North Africa struggled with extreme temperatures during the winter and summer months.
(Avya Mathur)
