Record #00354Nature archive
Driest Weather-Observation Location by Mean Annual Rainfall
Quillagua in Chile's Atacama Desert recorded only about 0.5 mm of annual rainfall on average from 1964 to 2001, recognized by Guinness as the world's driest place.
ARCHIVE VISUAL / 01
NOT TO SCALE
Current Record
about0.5mm/year
Current record value
- Location
- Quillagua, Atacama Desert, Chile
- Start date
- —
- Record status
- VerifiedView verification details ↗Report an issue
Overview
Archive NoteQuillagua is a settlement in northern Chile's hyper-arid Atacama region. The published mean annual rainfall derives from station observations over a specified multi-decade interval, not an extrapolation from the whole desert.
A separate Guinness record concerns Arica's 172 consecutive rainless months from October 1903 through January 1918. Longest dry spell and lowest mean rainfall are distinct comparisons.
Record history
1 Milestones- about 0.5 mm/yearQuillagua meteorological station areaQuillagua, Atacama Desert, ChileCurrent Record
Sources
Evidence & ReferencesVerification basis and limitations
VerifiedThe record conclusion has sufficient verification support.
Basis: direct confirmation by an authority
NASA or Guinness explicitly identifies the global record holder for the defined metric, rather than only providing a measurement.
- Verification assessment
- 2026-11-04
- Last editorial review
- 2026-11-04
Current Entry identifies the current entry in this archive; it does not establish that the record is still held today.
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