Sahara desert hit by biggest snowfall in living memory
The snow is waist deep in some parts (Picture: Karim Bouchetata/Geoff Robinson Photography)
The Sahara desert has experienced the biggest snowfall in living memory after a freak winter storm.
The red sand dunes of Ain Sefra were blaketed in one metre deep snow yesterday.
Snow falls in the Sahara desert for the first time in more than 37 years
And the pictures are breathtaking.
The world’s hottest desert saw its first sprinkling in 37 years just before Christmas.
But the snow has been falling steadily and is now waist deep in some parts.
Despite the blast of frost causing transport to come to a standstill, children have been making the most of it by building snowmen and sledding down the sand dunes.
PIC BY Zineddine Hashas/Geoff Robinson Photography 07976 880732. Picture shows the snowfall in the Sahara Desert this morning (January 20th 2017). The SAHARA Desert has had the biggest SNOWFALL in living memory after a freak winter storm this morning (Fri) - just days after 2016 was found to be the world's warmest year ever. Photographers have taken incredible pictures this morning of ONE METRE deep snow covering the sand in the small Saharan desert town of Ain Sefra. The town saw a sprinkling of snow just before Christmas, when a few flakes settled on the red sand dunes of the world's hottest desert for the first time in 37 years. But today the snow has been falling steadily and is now waist deep in some parts of Ain Sefra, which is known as "The Gateway to the Desert." The snow has caused chaos in the town, with passengers stranded on buses after the roads became slippery and icy. Children are making the most of the rare snow storm and are building SNOWMEN in the desert town and SLEDGING down the sand dunes. SEE COPY CATCHLINE SLEDGING in Sahara - deepest snow ever
The desert saw its first sprinkling of snow in 37 years just before Christmas (Picture: Zineddine Hashas/Geoff Robinson Photography)
PIC BY Zineddine Hashas/Geoff Robinson Photography 07976 880732. Picture shows people sledging in the Sahara Desert this morning (January 20th 2017). The SAHARA Desert has had the biggest SNOWFALL in living memory after a freak winter storm this morning (Fri) - just days after 2016 was found to be the world's warmest year ever. Photographers have taken incredible pictures this morning of ONE METRE deep snow covering the sand in the small Saharan desert town of Ain Sefra. The town saw a sprinkling of snow just before Christmas, when a few flakes settled on the red sand dunes of the world's hottest desert for the first time in 37 years. But today the snow has been falling steadily and is now waist deep in some parts of Ain Sefra, which is known as "The Gateway to the Desert." The snow has caused chaos in the town, with passengers stranded on buses after the roads became slippery and icy. Children are making the most of the rare snow storm and are building SNOWMEN in the desert town and SLEDGING down the sand dunes. SEE COPY CATCHLINE SLEDGING in Sahara - deepest snow ever
Transport has come to a standstill in the town (Picture: Zineddine Hashas/Geoff Robinson Photography)
Photographer Sekkouri Kamel, 38, said: ‘It started snowing at around 1.30am this morning and is now one metre deep in some places. It’s absolutely incredible to have so much snow.’
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Apart from the sprinkling before Christmas, snow was last seen in Ain Sefra on February 18, 1979, when the snow storm lasted just half an hour.
The area, known as ‘The Gateway to the Desert’ is around 1000 metres above sea level and surrounded by the Atlas Mountains.
PIC BY Sekkouri Kamel/Geoff Robinson Photography 07976 880732. Picture shows the snowfall in the Sahara Desert town of Ain Sefra this morning (January 20th 2017). The SAHARA Desert has had the biggest SNOWFALL in living memory after a freak winter storm this morning (Fri) - just days after 2016 was found to be the world's warmest year ever. Photographers have taken incredible pictures this morning of ONE METRE deep snow covering the sand in the small Saharan desert town of Ain Sefra. The town saw a sprinkling of snow just before Christmas, when a few flakes settled on the red sand dunes of the world's hottest desert for the first time in 37 years. But today the snow has been falling steadily and is now waist deep in some parts of Ain Sefra, which is known as "The Gateway to the Desert." The snow has caused chaos in the town, with passengers stranded on buses after the roads became slippery and icy. Children are making the most of the rare snow storm and are building SNOWMEN in the desert town and SLEDGING down the sand dunes. SEE COPY CATCHLINE SLEDGING in Sahara - deepest snow ever
Children take advantage of the rare sight (Picture: Sekkouri Kamel/Geoff Robinson Photography)

The Sahara: An unforgiving land

The Sahara (its name is the Arabic word for ‘desert’) has a mean temperature of 30c (86f), with average summer highs staying above 40c (104f) for months at a time. Highs have reached 47c (117c).
The immense desert covers 3.5 million square miles – more than 16 times the size of France.
The desert extends over Mauritania, western Sahara, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Niger, and parts of Tunisia, Mali, Chad and Sudan.
The Sahara is not only the red-hued sand fields familiar in imagery. They are mainly found in Algeria and Libya and make up 15% of the Sahara landscape. The rest is made up of rocky or gravel plains, arid mountains and shallow basins.
The Sahara has two main rivers running through it – the Nile and the Niger. 
It has around 20 lakes, including Lake Chad, which is the only one that contains potable water.
Rain is scarce – several years can pass by with none. Annually, no more than a few inches will fall in total.