Sahara Desert Turning Green, NASA Discovers Amid Heavy Rainfall

The Sahara Desert, known for its scorching heat, gold dunes and dry air, is facing a massive transformation due to a rare phenomenon. The Sahara Desert receives barely any rain, but when it does, it hardly rains for an inch or two annually. However, in September, the desert received more than five times the normal, creating small green patches across the yellow landscape.

Watch the NASA Earth post here:

An extratropical cyclone over the Sahara Desert drenched parts of Morocco and Algeria – bringing up to a year’s worth of rain to some areas. 🌧️ @nasa’s Terra satellite captured floodwaters and some Saharan lakes, usually dry, filled with water. https://t.co/cuS1c73RoA pic.twitter.com/m8Ga8G0FgO

— NASA Earth (@NASAEarth) September 17, 2024

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Captured in the NASA satellite, the once-dried lakes of the Sahara Desert are filling up along with green patches across the desert. NASA Earth Observatory reported this rare phenomenon, confirming that this rare phenomenon is due to the heavy rain attributed to the Extratropical Cyclone that hit North Africa on 7 and 8 September. This Cyclone also resulted in heavy rainfall in many North African countries, which triggered floods.

The Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) is a belt where the air from the Northern and Southern Hemisphere meet at the equator and carries cyclones around. According to some scientists, the shift in the belt towards North Africa is the reason for the heavy rain. Other scientists believe that the warming of the Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea has triggered the rainfall.

According to NASA's report, there have been more than 38,000 incidents of extreme rainfall over the Sahara, since the time weather records have been maintained. Nearly 30 per cent of that rainfall was received during the summers, and some were associated with extratropical cyclones.