The Largest Hot Desert Fact 24

The Sahara Desert in North Africa is big - very big. It covers a third of the whole continent, measuring 8.6 million square kilometers - it is almost the same size as the USA! It's the largest hot desert in the world. The highest temperature ever recorded there was 58 Degrees Celsius. In a single day, the temperature can range from below freezing (0 Degrees Celsius) to 50 Degrees Celsius. These extremes of hot and cold, combined with the dry, dusty winds, make the Sahara a place where few plants and animals can survive.

The Sahara is a very hot place indeed, but it isn't the heat that makes it qualify as a desert. It is the lack of the rain. The average rainfall in Sahara is less than 8 centimeters a year (London's average rainfall is about 60 centimeters).