Rare Snowfall Blankets Chile's Atacama Desert
Back-to-back winter storms in August 2026 brought rare and widespread snowfall to northern Chile's Atacama Desert, extending from the Andes to near the Pacific coast. Satellite imagery from NASA's Landsat 8 and 9, as well as the Terra satellite, captured the snow-covered landscape, a stark contrast to the typically barren desert.
The coastal town of Taltal received nearly 40 millimeters of rain in three days, ten times its annual average, highlighting the severity of the storms. Atmospheric scientist René Garreaud noted such events are extremely rare, occurring only a few times per decade.
The snowstorms disrupted operations at the ALMA radio telescope array, which suspended observations and placed its antennas into protective survival mode due to the adverse weather conditions.
The storms were driven by a cutoff low pressure system, influenced by a large-scale atmospheric trough and a strengthening El Niño, leading to the unusual precipitation. Secondary impacts included mudflows and flash flooding, affecting thousands and damaging hundreds of homes, according to Chile’s National Disaster Prevention and Response Service (SENAPRED).