After 10 years the snow returns to the Atacama desert: a rare show (which tells the climatic crisis)

It snows on the most arid desert in the world! The images, which are going around the web, show a landscape similar to the lunar one, but covered by a light white blanket: a breathtaking show, but also an alarm signal. Why is it an extraordinary event?

The Atacama desert is considered the most place dry of the planet. In some areas a decade can pass without a single drop of rain. The snow, therefore, is not only rare: it is almost a geographical oxymoron.

Which is why, according to the analyzes of the Alma Observatory, located at low altitude compared to the plateau Chajnantor (where the snow is more frequent at over 5,000 meters), there was no snowfall of this reach for 10 years.

Snow in the desert = climate change?

The climatologist Raul Corderoof the University of Santiago, said that it is still early to directly connect this single episode to the climatic crisis. However, he added a crucial point:

The climatic models indicate that this type of events – that is rainfall in the Atacama desert – will probably become more frequent.

In other words: what amazes us today, could become a new (worrying) normality tomorrow.

The heart of world astronomy, upset by the climate

Atacama is not just a desert: it is also one of the world capitals of astronomy. Thanks to its clear skies and without light pollution, it houses some of the telescopes more advanced in the world. Among these, the Alma RadioTelesCopium, the result of the collaboration between the European Southern Observatory (ESO), the United States National Radio Astronomy Observatory and the Japan National Astronomical Observatory.

The snow might seem romantic, but in reality it represents a threat to the delicate technological structures and for the entire ecosystem of the plateau.

Extreme phenomena like this are taking place with increasing frequency all over the world: floods in Arabia, fires in Siberia, drought in the Amazon. The snow in the Atacama desert is added to this list, reminding us that the climate is changing everywhere, even in the places that seemed “untouchable”.

These are no more curious exceptions to be immortalized in a viral video. They are unequivocal signals of a climatic system in crisis.