The Sahara Desert Flooded For The First Time In Decades [PHOTOS]

Striking images from the Sahara Desert reveal large lakes forming among the rolling sand dunes, after one of the driest places on Earth experienced rare flooding for the first time in decades.

While the Sahara does see some rainfall, it usually amounts to only a few inches per year and seldom occurs in late summer.

However, in September, an intense two-day downpour hit parts of the desert in southeast Morocco, driven by a low-pressure system sweeping across the northwestern Sahara.

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Preliminary NASA satellite data indicated nearly 8 inches of rain in some areas.

In the desert city of Errachidia, southeast Morocco, nearly 3 inches of rain fell—more than four times the typical amount for the entire month of September, and equivalent to over half a year’s rainfall in just two days.

“It’s been 30 to 50 years since we’ve seen this much rain in such a short period,” Houssine Youabeb of Morocco’s meteorology agency told AP last week.

As the rain poured over the desert, it reshaped the landscape, turning parts of the arid terrain into temporary lakes surrounded by palm trees and desert vegetation.

Some of the most striking images came from the desert town of Merzouga, where the rare deluge formed new lakes within the dunes. Palm trees now reflect off a newly-formed lagoon, framed by towering sand dunes.

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The rain also refilled normally dry lakes, such as one in Iriqui National Park, Morocco’s largest national park. NASA satellite images, enhanced with false color to highlight floodwaters, show newly-formed lakes stretching across large portions of the northwestern Sahara.

Though much of the rain fell in remote, sparsely populated areas, it also triggered deadly floods in some Moroccan towns and villages, claiming more than a dozen lives last month.

The Sahara, the world’s largest non-polar desert, spans 3.6 million square miles. Satellite imagery from September showed vast areas of the desert turning green as storms extended further north than usual—a phenomenon some studies suggest is linked to human-driven climate change.

Research indicates that as fossil fuel pollution continues to heat the planet and disrupt the water cycle, the Sahara could see more extreme rainfall events in the future.

See photos below:

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A view of lakes caused by heavy rainfall between sand dunes in the desert town of Merzouga, near Rachidia, southeastern Morocco on October 2, 2024. AP
A view of lakes caused by heavy rainfall between sand dunes in the desert town of Merzouga, near Rachidia, southeastern Morocco on October 2, 2024.  AP
Buildings along a lake filled by heavy rainfall in the desert town of Merzouga on October 2, 2024. AP
Buildings along a lake filled by heavy rainfall in the desert town of Merzouga on October 2, 2024.  AP

A NASA false-color satellite image shows parts of the Sahara Desert in Morocco and Algeria on August 14, 2024.

The second image shows the same area on September 10, 2024 with the lake in Iriqui National Park shown in the dark blue at the bottom left.

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