CLIMATE CHANGE DRIVEN EL NINO TURNS CHILE’S DESERT PINK

The ‘driest place on Earth’ is covered in pink flowers after a crazy year of rain

Angela Fritz, October 29, 2015 (Washington Post)

“The Atacama Desert in Chile, known as the driest place on Earth, is awash with color after a year’s worth of extreme rainfall [associated with the currently severe El Nino that research suggests is due to climate change]…Arica, Chile, in the northern Atacama holds the world record for the longest dry streak, having gone 173 months without a drop of rain in the early 20th century…In March, heavy thunderstorms brought 0.96 inches of rain in one day to parts of the Atacama Desert…[It] was a huge rainfall event for the desert — over 14 years of rain in one day…Flooding killed at least nine people…The malva (or mallow) flowers on the floor of the Atacama desert bloom every five to seven years, usually coinciding with El Nino. But they have been taking advantage of this year’s particularly rainy conditions…” click here for more

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