The Atacama Desert, renowned for having the darkest skies on the planet, has long been the preferred site for the most sophisticated telescopes in the world. On Thursday, residents of the Atacama, the driest desert globally located in northern Chile, were greeted with an astonishing sight: its iconic lunar-like terrain was covered in snow. “AMAZING! The Atacama Desert, recognized as the most arid region on Earth, is DRENCHED IN SNOW,” stated the ALMA observatory, which is positioned at an elevation of 2,900 meters (9,500 feet) above sea level, on X, sharing a video showcasing the extensive areas blanketed in white. The observatory further noted that while snowfall is typical on the nearby Chajnanator Plateau, which is over 5,000 meters high and where its massive telescope is located, it had not experienced snow at its primary facility for a decade.
Raul Cordero, a climatologist from the University of Santiago, informed AFP that it is premature to attribute the snowfall to climate change; however, he mentioned that climate modeling indicates that “such occurrences, involving precipitation in the Atacama desert, are likely to become more common.” The Atacama Desert, known for its exceptionally dark skies, has been the favored location for the world’s leading telescopes for many years. The ALMA telescope, a collaborative effort between the European Southern Observatory, the US National Radio Astronomy Observatory, and the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, is widely acknowledged as the most powerful telescope available.
