Atacama Desert bloom phenomenon to return in mid-September [View all]

Aug. 18, 2025 / 2:24 PM

By Daniel Uria



The desert bloom phenomenon is set to return to Chile in September. File Photo by Adriana Thomasa/EPA


Aug. 18 (UPI) -- The desert bloom phenomenon is expected to return in the third week of September in Chile's Llanos de Challe National Park and surrounding areas, reaching its peak in October after early August rains in the Atacama region, officials with the National Forestry Corporation, or CONAF, said.

"We expect the blanket of flowers to stretch from the Totoral area in the north to Caleta Chañaral de Aceituno at the southern edge of the region, from the third week of September through the first half of November, with its peak in October," Jorge Carabantes, head of protected areas at CONAF, said.

The desert bloom occurs when winter rains pass certain thresholds and "awaken" a bank of seeds and bulbs that can remain dormant for years. That pulse of water, often tied to phases of the El Niño weather pattern, triggers mass germination and flowering that in Atacama usually takes place between September and November.

That this explosion of color takes place in the Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on Earth, makes it exceptional. Some areas receive only a few millimeters of rain each year, and when it does rain, the landscape can be transformed in just a few weeks.

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