Snowfall in the Sahara desert: an unusual weather phenomenon

derdour rachid/ShutterstockSnowfall in a hot desert may seem a contradiction but snow has been recorded several times in the Sahara Desert over the last decades, most recently in January 2022. Although the Sahara commonly experiences very high temperatures (more than 50°C), low temperatures are also recorded (in particular at night) because of the bare land surface and the cloudless skies. The Sahara is the world’s largest hot desert. So Saharan snowfall historically may be more common than we think. In the Sahara, this may mean increased variability of rainfall along its wetter Sahelian fringe and along the Atlantic and Mediterranean seaboards (including in the Atlas Mountains). Although snow patterns are uncertain, this is not the main challenge that the Sahara faces under climate change.