Heavy Rainfall Transforms Earth’s Driest Desert Into A Spectacular Field Of Flowers

The photos you’re about to see aren’t taken from a flower farm, but from the Atacama desert in Chile, the driest non-polar desert on Earth!

Hard as it may to believe, but this seemingly barren wasteland can burst with life and explode with colors if the desert experiences heavy rainfall during the Southern Hemisphere’s spring (October, November). This year, the desert’s flowers ‘hibernating’ beneath the surface bloomed due to the same weather patterns that spawned Hurricane Patricia.

“The intensity of blooms this year has no precedent,” Daniel Diaz, the National Tourism Service director in Atacama, told the EFE news agency. “And the fact that it has happened twice in a same year has never been recorded in the country’s history. We are surprised.”

The desert’s stunning flowery bloom is expected to attract over 20,000 tourists and will no doubt improve local tourism.

Atacama desert 1

via Bored Panda

Atacama desert 3

via Bored Panda

Atacama desert 4

via Bored Panda

Atacama desert 6

via Bored Panda

[wp_ad_camp_2]

Atacama desert 7

via Bored Panda

Atacama desert 2

via Bored Panda

Atacama desert 5

via Bored Panda

Atacama desert 8

via Bored Panda