Snow and ice covered the sand dunes in the Sahara Desert after temperatures dropped to -2 degrees Celsius due to the influence of a high-pressure cold air mass.
Snow falling on the dunes in the desert. (Photo: Karim Bouchetata)
Photographer Karim Bouchetata captured a series of images of snow and ice covering the town of Ain Sefra in northwestern Algeria on January 17. In just one night, temperatures dropped to -2 degrees Celsius. The ice formed fascinating shapes on the sand after the area unexpectedly experienced snowfall. This marks the fifth time in 42 years that Ain Sefra has been blanketed in white snow. Previous snowfalls occurred in 1979, 2016, 2018, and 2021.
Ain Sefra, nicknamed the Gateway to the Desert, is located at an elevation of about 915 meters above sea level, surrounded by the Atlas Mountains. The Sahara Desert occupies a large part of North Africa and has undergone significant fluctuations in temperature and humidity over the past several hundred thousand years. Although the Sahara Desert is currently very arid, with temperatures reaching up to 58 degrees Celsius, researchers predict that the desert may become lush again in about 15,000 years.
This is the fifth time in 42 years that the Sahara Desert has been covered in snow. (Photo: Karim Bouchetata)
Last year, temperatures in North Africa also reached extreme lows during the summer and winter months. Ice and snow are unusual weather phenomena in the desert, but they have occurred before. Temperatures in the desert can drop sharply overnight, but the snow usually melts very early the next day.
In January of this year, a high-pressure cold air mass moved across Algeria’s desert, causing temperatures to drop. Such cold air vortices typically reach Saudi Arabia as they move in a clockwise direction from Central Asia, picking up moisture along the way, which eventually cools and forms snow. Temperatures in Ain Sefra usually range from 12 degrees Celsius in January, the coldest month of the year, to nearly 40 degrees Celsius in July.
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