Posted on 10/09/2024 8:37:13 PM PDT by Red Badger
A rare deluge of rainfall left blue lagoons of water amid the palm trees and sand dunes of the Sahara desert, nourishing some of its driest regions with more water than they had seen in decades.
Southeastern Morocco’s desert is among the most arid places on earth and rarely experiences rain in late summer.
The Moroccan government said two days of rainfall in September exceeded yearly averages in several areas that see less than 250 millimetres annually, including Tata, one of the areas hit hardest.
More than 100 millimetres of rain were recorded in Tagounite, a village about 280 miles south of the capital, Rabat, in a 24-hour period. The storms left striking images of water gushing through the Saharan sands dotted by castles and desert flora.
NASA satellites showed water rushing in to fill Lake Iriqui, a famous lake bed between Zagora and Tata that had been dry for 50 years.
In desert communities frequented by tourists, 4x4s motored through the puddles and residents surveyed the scene in awe.
‘It’s been 30 to 50 years since we’ve had this much rain in such a short space of time,’ said Houssine Youabeb of Morocco’s General Directorate of Meteorology.
Such rains, which meteorologists are calling an extratropical storm, may change the course of the region’s weather in months and years to come as the air retains more moisture, causing more evaporation and drawing more storms, Youabeb said.
Six consecutive years of drought have posed challenges for much of Morocco, forcing farmers to leave fields fallow and cities and villages to ration water.
The bounty of rainfall will likely help refill the large groundwater aquifers beneath the desert that are relied upon to supply water in desert communities.
The region’s dammed reservoirs reported refilling at record rates throughout September.
However, it’s unclear how far September’s rains will go toward alleviating drought.
Water gushing through the sands and oases left more than 20 dead in Morocco and Algeria and damaged farmers’ harvests, forcing the government to allocate emergency relief funds, including in some areas affected by last year’s earthquake.
Last year, California’s notorious Death Valley was also given a makeover after an unprecedented day of rain turned America’s driest place into a stunning oasis.
The spectacular national park was shut to visitors in August as Hurricane Hilary dumped a year’s worth of rain onto the parched landscape, destroying roads and turning arid gullies into raging torrents.
Two months later, that 2.2 inches of rain has transformed the lethal landscape into an unrecognizable water world with wading birds foraging on tranquil lakes.
Looks like a dusty place.
Isaiah 61
1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.
4 And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.
Come on! Don’t be silly. /s
btt
Very appropriate verse. I personally had not expected this at this time in history, but later.
Just how many billions of years has the earth existed. I wonder if anything weather wise has changed since the “beginning”?
It’s changed in the last 13,000 years or so. It’s a lot colder now that it was 100,000 years ago. We are coming out of an ice age.
Just filling up underground water ,LOL
Not sure about the Sahara, but in Saudi and Kuwait the sand is so fine, you don’t realize how much is on you until you shower. Very dusty places for sure.
My wife hates desert areas, but I’ve always been enamored with the beauty of the Nile and other areas where oasis form. Those photos are beautiful.
Maybe Hurricane Milton will make its way across the Atlantic and drop more rain.
When the wind blows in the Spring you cannot see more than 100 feet.
What CAN’T climate change do? Solar storms, cat 14 destructocanes......
Everything has changed, and it will continue to change, that is what nature does.
Rain I the desert is a good thing, so you won’t hear anything about this in the liberal media.
Part of the greening of a planet with more CO2 in the atmosphere.
Good point.
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