The Driest Desert on Earth Has Bloomed — Its Biggest Flowering in 30 Years
NEWJIN MEDIA Monday, November 9, 2026 WORLD ATACAMA · CHILE NOV 9, 2026 17,000 km² of desert in flower — CONAF estimate, October 2026 00 Archive: the flowering desert near Vallenar in October 2015 — a panorama of the pink carpet that returns in wet years. Pato Novoa · CC BY 2.0 World · Chile · Desierto Florido The Driest Desert on Earth Has Bloomed — Its Biggest Flowering in 30 Years Record El Niño rains turned about 17,000 square kilometres of Chile’s Atacama into pink, yellow and purple. The display is expected to fade by mid-November. NEWJIN MEDIA · November 9, 2026 17,000 km² Flowering ground, about 23% of the Atacama Region (CONAF, October 2026). 200+ species Plant species in flower at once, many of them endemic. 30 years Since a bloom this large and colourful — the biggest since 1997. CONAF and NPR, November 8, 2026. 01 The bloom The driest desert on Earth is in flower On Wednesday, October 21, 2026, a field of w...