One of Earth’s driest places was just covered in snow
Unusual winter storms in August 2026 brought significant snowfall to Chile's Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on Earth. Satellite imagery from NASA and the USGS captured the extent of the snow, which forced major astronomical observatories to suspend operations.
Why it matters
The event highlights the impact of shifting weather patterns on high-altitude scientific infrastructure and the extreme climate variability in the region.
A series of winter storms swept across northern Chile in August 2026, bringing an unusual covering of snow to parts of the Atacama Desert. Snowfall in this famously dry region is not unprecedented. Similar events occurred in 2025 and 2011. However, one of the August 2026 storms stood out for its remarkable reach, spreading from the Andes across the desert toward the Pacific coast.
The OLI (Operational Land Imager) aboard the NASA USGS Landsat 8 and Landsat 9 satellites documented the dramatic change in images taken on August 6 and August 14 , before and after a stretch of severe weather, respectively.
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