Striking images from the Sahara Desert reveal large lakes etched into rolling sand dunes after one of the most arid regions in the world experienced its first floods in decades.
While the Sahara typically receives only a few inches of rain each year, with little precipitation in late summer, intense rainfall hit parts of southeastern Morocco over two days in September. This unusual weather event followed a low-pressure system that moved across the northwestern Sahara.
Preliminary data from NASA satellites indicated that some areas received nearly 8 inches of rain. Errachidia, a desert city in southeast Morocco, recorded nearly 3 inches of rainfall, most of it falling within just two days. This amount is over four times the average rainfall for September, equating to more than half a year’s worth for the region.
Houssine Youabeb from Morocco’s meteorology agency remarked, “It’s been 30 to 50 years since we’ve had this much rain in such a short space of time.”
As rain flowed across the desert terrain, it created a new, watery landscape amidst palm trees and scrubby vegetation. Dramatic images emerged from the desert town of Merzouga, where the rare deluge formed new lakes within the sand dunes. The reflections of the town’s palm trees now shimmer across a new lagoon, framed by steep sand dunes.
The rain also replenished lakes that are usually dry, such as one located in Iriqui National Park, Morocco’s largest national park. NASA satellite images using false color technology to highlight floodwaters show newly formed lakes across vast areas of the northwest Sahara.
Although much of the rainfall occurred in sparsely populated remote areas, some rain fell on Morocco’s towns and villages, resulting in deadly flooding last month that claimed more than a dozen lives.
As the world’s largest non-polar desert, the Sahara stretches across 3.6 million square miles. Satellite images from September depicted vast sections of the desert carpeted in green, as storms moved further north than usual—a phenomenon that some studies have linked to human-induced climate change.
Recent research suggests that more extreme rainfall events may be expected in the Sahara in the future, as fossil fuel pollution continues to heat the planet and disrupt the water cycle.
