Parts of the Sahara Desert Are Turning Green Due to Heavy Rainfall

The Sahara desert is well-known as one of the world's driest places. Yet, an odd weather phenomenon has prompted plant life to emerge in the barren landscape. 

The NASA Earth Observatory has released some eye-opening images of vegetation growing in the Sahara desert following a rare rainfall.

Parts of the Sahara desert turn green amid a rare rainfall

On September 7 and 8, an extratropical cyclone flooded most of northern Africa, causing patches of green to appear throughout the Sahara desert, notably bushes and trees in low-lying regions such as riverbeds.

Although some sections of the Sahara receive only a few inches of rain each year, NASA's first satellite analysis shows rainfall accumulations of up to half a foot in the impacted areas.

A rare rainfall in the Sahara desert

The unexpected weather, which brought up to a year's worth of rain in some locations in a couple of days, was triggered by the storm system's northward movement. 

According to NASA, this developed over the Atlantic Ocean and spread far south, drawing precipitation from equatorial Africa into the northern Sahara region. 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center said that the Intertropical Convergence Zone has been causing storms in the southern Sahara since mid-July.

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