An amateur photographer has captured rare and beautiful images of the first snowfall in the Sahara desert in nearly 40 years. The last recorded snowfall in this region, sometime referred to as the gateway to the desert was in February 1979.
Its not actually that unusual for the desert to get freezing cold temperatures during the winter. But for snow you need water as well, and the area usually only gets a few centimetres of rainfall in an entire year, so snow is really rare.
Karim Bouchetata photographed the fleeting scene on Monday in the small Algerian town of Ain Sefra, which lies in the Atlas Mountains on the northern edge of the desert. In his images a thin layer of snow rests on deep orange dunes, where he said it stayed for about a day, and forms whirling patterns where the slopes are too steep for it to settle, Independent.co.uk reported. Mr Bouchetata said, Everyone was stunned to see snow falling in the desert, it is such a rare occurrence.
Bouchetata shared a series of breathtaking photos on his official Facebook handle.
NASAs Landsat 7 satellite also captured the moment which depicts the first snowfall recorded in the worlds hottest desert in 37 years.
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