Rare snowfall in Chile’s Atacama desert, one of the driest areas on earth, is the heaviest wet weather conditions the desert has experienced in decades.

• The desert is described as the driest hot desert in the world.
• Its average rainfall is less than one inch.

The Atacama Desert of northern Chile is the world’s second driest region (icy Antarctica is first). Although the Tropic of Capricorn passes through the region, the Atacama desert lies in the rain shadow of Chile’s Coast Range, which squeezes out the moisture from the atmosphere.

The desert is completely barren and while most areas only receive moisture from an occasional fog or a shower every few decades, the rain gauge at Calama has never recorded any measurable precipitation. About.com