It snows in the drier desert of the world, the Atacama in Chile. A decade ago was the last time that snowfall was observed in the Atacama desert.
Snow has covered the drier desert of the planet, the Atacama In northern Chile, as reported on Friday (27.06.2025) the ALMA Observatory on X (formerly Twitter).
“It’s snowing in the Atakama desert, the dryest desert in the world,” the caption said.
AWESOME! The Atacama Desert in Chile, the driest in the world, is SNOWY! pic.twitter.com/ltfMmUWqha
— ALMA Observatory (@almaobs) June 26, 2025
Pictures from the white scene published on social media by the Alma Observatory, at an altitude of about 5,000 meters, did not take long to viral.
“Incredible! The Atacama Desert, the most anhydrous in the world, is covered with snow, “the observers wrote.
Atacama is one of the most special areas of the earth. With annual rainfall that in some places do not exceed one millimeter, it has soil so dry (then with minimal vegetation), often used as a model to simulate conditions on the planet Mars.
#Snow fell in the world’s driest desert, the #Atacama.
The desert in northern #Chile has been home to cutting-edge telescopes for decades. The #ALMA observatory in the Atacama reported that its main facility had not seen snow for 10 years.
Raul Cordero, a climate scientist at… pic.twitter.com/QiTRnqJCUp
– News.az (@news_az) June 27, 2025
NASA and other space organizations have carried out a number of tests in the area, with robotic vehicles and scientific organs due to the morphology and soil composition.
At the same time, due to the clear sky and limited lighting, the area is one of the leading destinations for astronomical observations.
There are some of the most advanced telescopes in the world, such as Alma, which operates in collaboration between the European Southern Observatory, the US National Radio Observatory and the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.
On the Tsachiador Plateau, where the main telescope of the Alma is located at an altitude of about 5,000 meters, it more often “sees” snow. However, laying it in its main facilities at 2,900 meters is even rarer.
The world’s driest desert, the Atacama Desert, was covered in snow, and the phenomenon was captured on video
This is the first time such a snow phenomenon has been observed in the desert in the last decade pic.twitter.com/s0Fvr7xdjQ— Lev (@Lev1446491) June 27, 2025
The last time such snowfall was observed in this area was in 2015.
Its climate, with extremely low rainfall, makes it an ideal place for space observations and the construction of observations.