The Wettest and Driest Place On Earth

The Wettest

Although I’d swear the wettest place on Earth is my home city of Vancouver Canada, we’re a desert compared to the true wettest point on Earth: Mawsynram, India with a yearly average rainfall of 12 meters. Cherrapunji, is only 16 kilometers away and is in competition with Mawsynram for the wettest place on Earth. Both are situated in North East India in Meghalaya State. 

Each town has held the record during the last decade; there’s only a difference of 1000 millimeters between the two for each year that goes by. Both are located in the Khasi Hills; which is a contributing factor to their high rainfall. The monsoon season hits these areas pretty hard. One reported going a 2 year stretch with no break from the rain! Surprisingly, the high rainfall is a result of their elevation and not the monsoon season. Huge amounts of warm air condense and fall as rain when they encounter the Khasi Hills. The topography of the region forces the very moist clouds up and down getting them to empty their water over the region.

Ironically, both towns suffer from severe water shortages. Because of deforestation in the region, the soil has no absorption ability. The water runs down to Bangladesh; who really doesn’t need the extra.

The Driest

The Atacama desert is found along the coast of Chile, South America - right next to the Pacific Ocean - the biggest body of water in the world. Much of the desert extends up into the Andes mountains and is very high in elevation. Unlike more familiar deserts, like the Sahara desert in Africa and the Mojave in California, the Atacama is actually a pretty cold place, with average daily temperatures ranging between 0°C and 25°C. The annual rainfall (or lack of it) defines a desert, but that doesn't mean that it never rains in Atacama. Every so often a warming effect over the Pacific Ocean around the equator changes the weather the world over and even places like the driest desert in the world can become doused with drenching storms. Even though Atacama gets almost no rainfall, there is water in this arid place and you'll find it in the following places: