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In 1984, the charitable supergroup Band Aid sang: “There won’t be snow in Africa this Christmas time.” In fact, it does snow in Africa at high elevations. Kilimanjaro has long been crowned by a cap of snow and ice, though it has been shrinking. Skiiers travel for natural and manufactured snow in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco and Algeria, as well as a few spots in South Africa and Lesotho.
Nonetheless, snow on the edge of the Sahara Desert is rare. On December 19, 2016, snow fell on the Algerian town of Ain Sefra, which is sometimes referred to as the “gateway to the desert.” The town of roughly 35,000 people sits between the Atlas Mountains and the northern edge of the Sahara. The last recorded snowfall in Ain Sefra occurred in February 1979.
The Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) on the Landsat 7 satellite acquired a natural-color image (above) of snow in North Africa on December 19, 2016. The scene shows an area near the border of Morocco and Algeria, south of the city of Bouarfa and southwest of Ain Sefra.
Though news accounts have been dominated by the snow in the desert city, a review of several years of satellite data suggests that snow is also unusual in this section of the Saharan Atlas range. The images below show December observations made over the past four years by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instruments on NASA’s Aqua and Terra satellites. The false-color images blend infrared, shortwave infrared, and visible red wavelengths, and snow shows up as a bright blue-green color.
December 24, 2013 - December 21, 2016
December 24, 2013JPEG
December 20, 2014JPEG
December 20, 2015JPEG
December 21, 2016JPEG
Photographer Karim Bouchetata has posted a series of photos showing a thin veil of white atop the orange dunes and green vegetation around Ain Sefra. See his facebook page. Sadly, the snow was gone by the next day.
The snow fell in a region where summertime temperatures average 37°Celsius (99°Fahrenheit), though wintertime temperatures have been known to get down into the single digits Celsius (30s Fahrenheit). Such moisture is as rare as the cool temperatures, given that just a few centimeters (inches) of precipitation fall here in an entire year.
NASA Earth Observatory image by Joshua Stevens, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey and MODIS data from LANCE/EOSDIS Rapid Response. Caption by Mike Carlowicz.
FAQs
In the Sonoran Desert, snow is a rare and magical occurrence. When it happens, the landscape undergoes a breathtaking transformation. The familiar cacti, like the saguaro and barrel cactus, become surreal sculptures adorned with a layer of snowfall.
Is snow rare in Africa? ›
Snowfall in Africa is very rare, but it does happen occasionally.
Did you know it snows in the Sahara Desert? ›
Snowfall 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. Thus, snowfall may be unusual but is not unprecedented in the region.
Is it possible for snow to fall over a desert? ›
Snow is very rare in the desert because there is not usually enough water in the air for it, even though it can get very cold at night.
Why is snow so rare? ›
Snow requires two specific weather conditions: low temperatures and moisture in the atmosphere. In warm, humid places, such as Florida, there is significant moisture in the air, but temperatures are rarely low enough to produce snow.
Where is snow rare? ›
States where it doesn't snow (much)
| State | Average annual snowfall (inches) |
|---|
| Hawaii | 0 |
| Florida | .01 |
| Louisiana | .20 |
| Alabama | .57 |
6 more rowsOct 30, 2023
Parts of South Africa are accustomed to snow during its winter months, June to August. However, snow last fell in Johannesburg in 2012 and before that in 2007, Jennifer Fitchett, a professor at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, told the South African newspaper TimesLIVE.
How often does it snow in Africa? ›
Snow is an almost annual occurrence on some of the mountains of South Africa, including those of the Cedarberg and around Ceres in the South-Western Cape, and on the Drakensberg in Natal and Lesotho.
Has it ever snowed in Hawaii? ›
Snow typically occurs a few times a year on the peaks: Although it snows most often in cooler months between October and April at these highest elevations, it can happen any time of the year. A dusting of snow was observed at Mauna Kea in July 2015.
How many times has snowfall been recorded in the Sahara Desert? ›
The Algerian town of Aïn Séfra received snow in the northern hemisphere winters of 1979, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021 and 2022. This latter event was just a light dusting, transforming the sand dunes with a thin white coat, whereas in 2018 for example up to 30 cm of snow fell in higher elevation areas.
Ain Sefra's last snowfall occurred on February 18, 1979. While snow does collect in Africa at higher elevations—Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania has long been crowned by a cap of snow and ice—snow on the edge of the Sahara Desert seldom falls. The average summertime temperature at Ain Sefra is 99 degrees Fahrenheit.
Has it ever snowed in Florida? ›
Has it ever snowed in Florida? Yes, it has. While snow doesn't exactly fall every year, even in North Florida, it has made an appearance, much to the delight of several residents. The first documented account of snow in Florida was reported in 1774, according to the Florida Climate Center.
Will it ever stop snowing on Earth? ›
If global emissions aren't curbed, “a large portion of the world will have snow-free winters by 2100,” says Andrew Schwartz, lead scientist at UC Berkeley's Central Sierra Snow Laboratory. This decrease in snow could become a cause, and not just a symptom, of climate change.
Do deserts get cold at night? ›
During the day, desert temperatures rise to an average of 38°C (a little over 100°F). At night, desert temperatures fall to an average of -3.9°C (about 25°F).
How hot can it be but still snow? ›
Under the right circ*mstances, snow can actually fall with a temperature at the surface as high as 50 degrees. There was even a report of snow falling at 53 degrees in Jacksonville, Florida! In Montana, it is actually fairly common to see warm temperature snow compared to other parts of the country.
Is snow in Arizona rare? ›
Snowfall in the Phoenix metro area is rare, but it does happen. 12News meteorologist Lauren Rainson explains. PHOENIX — While we often talk about big-time snow events in northern Arizona, snow accumulation in the Valley of the Sun this time of year might occur more often than you think.
What is a rare type of snow? ›
It's called graupel. According to the National Weather Service, graupel is defined as snow that melts and becomes supercooled as it falls through a warm surface and forms ice pellets. In simpler terms, this is the process of graupel forming. Graupel begins as individual snowflakes in the upper atmosphere.
Does the High desert get snow? ›
At 2,875 feet above sea level, Victorville's dry, high-desert climate offers a taste of all seasons. We enjoy cool springs and falls, hot and sunny summers and generally milder winters that can sometimes bring light snow.
