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Climate and Environment

    • Striking images show rare floods in the largest hot desert on Earth

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    Striking images from the show large lakes etched into rolling sand dunes after one of the most arid, barren places in the world was hit with its first floods in decades.

    The Sahara does experience rain, but usually just a few inches a year and rarely in late summer. Over two days in September, however, intense rain fell in parts of the desert in southeast Morocco, after a low pressure system pushed across northwestern Sahara.

    Preliminary NASA satellite data showed of rain in some parts of the region.

    Errachidia, a desert city in southeast Morocco, recorded nearly 3 inches of rainfall, most of it across just two days last month. That鈥檚 more than four times the normal rainfall for the whole month of September, and equates to more than half a year鈥檚 worth for this area.

    鈥淚t鈥檚 been 30 to 50 years since we鈥檝e had this much rain in such a short space of time,鈥 Houssine Youabeb from Morocco鈥檚 meteorology agency told AP last week.

    As the rain flowed over the desert terrain, it created a new, watery landscape amid the palm trees and scrubby flora.

    Palm trees reflect in a lake caused by heavy rainfall in the desert town of Merzouga, near Rachidia, in southeastern Morocco on October 2. AP via CNN NewsourceSome of the most dramatic images are from the desert town of Merzouga, where the rare deluge carved new lakes into the sand dunes.

    The reflections of the town鈥檚 palm trees now shimmer across the expanse of a new lagoon, framed by steep sand dunes.

    The rain also filled lakes that are normally dry, such as one in Iriqui National Park, Morocco鈥檚 largest national park. NASA satellite images from the region, using false color to better highlight the floodwaters, show newly-formed lakes across swaths of the northwest Sahara.

    While much of the rain fell on sparsely-populated remote areas, some fell on Morocco鈥檚 towns and villages causing deadly flooding last month, which killed more than a dozen people.

    The Sahara is the world鈥檚 largest non-polar desert, stretching across 3.6 million square miles. Satellite images from September showed as storms pushed further north than usual, a phenomenon have linked to human-caused climate change.

    More extreme rainfall events in the Sahara in the future, according to recent research, as fossil fuel pollution continues heats up the planet and .

    CNN鈥檚 Brandon Miller contributed to this report.

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    Canada

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    Local Spotlight

    Residents of Ottawa's Rideauview neighbourhood say an aggressive wild turkey has become a problem.

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    N.L.

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