the sahara desert

The word "Sahara" means "desert" in Arabic. The Sahara is one of the hottest places on earth. September, 1922, the temperature in the Sahara soared to 136 degrees F. At night the temperature can drop below freezing. The Sahara is located on the continent of Africa. It runs through 11 countries and a part of Africa known as the Western Sahara.

The rain in the Sahara is less than 10 inches a year. People cannot survive without water. There are few lakes. Most of these anyway are saltwater lakes. People cannot drink from them. Lake Chad is the only freshwater lake in the desert. Rivers once ran through the Sahara. We know this because dried up riverbeds, called wadis, still exist. When it does rain in the desert, these wadis fill up with water and become active rivers for a short time. Sandstorms are very common in the desert. Brown clouds of sand cover the sky, as wind blows sand everywhere.