The Driest Place of All
Some places on Earth receive rain almost every day, while others go a long time between showers. But one place stands out as the most extreme of all: the Atacama Desert in Chile, widely regarded as the driest place on Earth.
A Land Almost Without Rain
The Atacama is a long, narrow desert that runs down the Pacific coast of northern Chile in South America. What makes it remarkable is just how little rain it receives. While many deserts get at least some rainfall each year, parts of the Atacama get almost none at all. Some areas are so dry that they may not have received meaningful rain for an extraordinarily long time, possibly centuries.
Why It Is So Dry
The Atacama's extreme dryness is caused by a combination of geography. It is squeezed between the towering Andes Mountains on one side and a coastal mountain range on the other. These mountains block moisture from reaching the desert from either direction. In addition, a cold ocean current flows along the nearby coast, which reduces the formation of rain clouds. Together, these forces leave the Atacama starved of water.
A Place Like Another Planet
The Atacama is so dry and barren that its landscape can look otherworldly. In fact, scientists sometimes use the Atacama as a stand-in for the planet Mars, testing equipment and studying how life might survive in such harsh conditions. Surprisingly, the desert is not unbearably hot; thanks to the cool ocean current, its temperatures are often mild. It is a powerful example of just how extreme our planet's environments can be.
Source
This article was written using information from Wikipedia.