What Makes the Sahara Desert a Frozen Place?

Imagine you are holding a hot cup of cocoa. If the air around it is wet and cloudy, the warmth stays in longer. But if the air is very dry and the sky is clear, the heat flies away quickly into space. The Sahara Desert works like that hot cup.

During the day, the sun beats down on the sand. Sand gets hot fast because it does not hold onto its heat for long. At night, without clouds to act like a warm blanket, the heat escapes into the sky. This process is called radiative cooling.

Because the Sahara has almost no water in the air, there is nothing to keep the warmth trapped. On some nights, the temperature can drop so much that frost forms on the ground! Even though it is a desert, you could technically get a frozen morning there.