Atacama desert covered in snow

ch750536

Link

'A large dump of snow has fallen on the Atacama desert in South America, one of the driest places on earth.'

Up to 80cm of snow!

fits

80cm?! Thats mad. The whole thing is mad. What a freak event. Was there a couple of years ago about this time of year, and it was hot!

morticia2

fits wrote: »

80cm?! Thats mad. The whole thing is mad. What a freak event. Was there a couple of years ago about this time of year, and it was hot!

I'm a guessing this might have a cause; Puyehue!

markfla

ooohhhh chile!!:D

Elmer Blooker

the BBC reporter said the Atacama hasn't seen anything like it for twenty years!!!
Only 20 years, it can't be that unusual then. Last December Dublin had it's first sub zero month for 130 years - that's unusual!

Stinicker

I wonder would that huge volcano erupting down there be a factor?

gbee

As posted higher up, ONLY 20 years????

In climatology, FFS like, 20 years is .... so lame. Like none of them will have even worn out their tyres since the last time!

Su Campu

Let's break this down a bit.

Since we're talking about one of the driest places on earth, the snow was most likely of the "fluffy" type, with a liquid equivalent ratio of maybe 50:1, i.e. 1 mm of liquid equivalent leads to 50 mm of snow depth. The 80 cms therefore would translate into around 1.6 cms (16 mm), which isn't much by our standards, but is of course unusual there, where annual totals range from <1 - 25 mm.

planetX

gbee wrote: »

As posted higher up, ONLY 20 years????

In climatology, FFS like, 20 years is .... so lame. Like none of them will have even worn out their tyres since the last time!

heh, listen again - commentary actually says 'in almost 20 years'

eskimocat

Su Campu wrote: »

Let's break this down a bit.

Since we're talking about one of the driest places on earth, the snow was most likely of the "fluffy" type, with a liquid equivalent ratio of maybe 50:1, i.e. 1 mm of liquid equivalent leads to 50 mm of snow depth. The 80 cms therefore would translate into around 1.6 cms (16 mm), which isn't much by our standards, but is of course unusual there, where annual totals range from <1 - 25 mm.

Fluffy Type!!! Does that mean you are talking about snowman snow!!! lol Now at least i know where to go to build a snowman in July with proper snow man material.... now just off to play the Euro lotto to win the funds to get there!

desolate sun

eskimocat wrote: »

Fluffy Type!!! Does that mean you are talking about snowman snow!!! lol Now at least i know where to go to build a snowman in July with proper snow man material.... now just off to play the Euro lotto to win the funds to get there!

Hee hee! If you had a lot of money you could take several holidays a year and follow the snow around!
(There's an idea for a snow nut on a year off round the world!)

I am fairly sure Ireland will get lovely snow this winter, so I am quite happy to stay here (no other choice )