Northern Chile and the Atacama · 15 to 28 August 2026 · published 30 August 2026
5.6 mm of rain fell over Northern Chile and the Atacama in 15 to 28 August 2026, against a typical 0.3 mm for the same fortnight. The closest years sit too near this total to place it among them.
Whether this rainfall caused flooding has not been established. No South American gauge checked. GloFAS discharge is the intended corroboration and is blocked on a licence acceptance. Our own instruments measure rainfall and flood extent, and neither can answer it.
Northern Chile and the Atacama recorded 5.6 mm over 15 to 28 August 2026, against a median of 0.3 mm for the same fortnight since 2000. It is neither ranked nor expressed as a multiple: the closest years sit too near this total to separate, and the usual total is small enough that a ratio against it would measure noise. The chart shows every year, which is the honest comparison. This measures RAINFALL, not flooding.
| RainfallGPM IMERG Late Run v07 | 5.6 mm | not ranked, 1 other year within the tie margin |
|---|---|---|
| Rainfall intensityone day carried 66% of the fortnight, against a 27% median | under-read | |
| This instrument measures accumulation over time and severely under-reads concentrated rainfall, by more than five times at the worst-hit gauge in the Valencia case. Rain that falls in a few hours can flood without moving a fortnight's total, so an ordinary total here is not evidence that nothing happened. Rain gauges answer that question; this does not. | ||
| Flood extentNASA MODIS MCDWD 3-Day composite | not assessed | |
| no flood-extent baseline has been built for this region, so the instrument's ability to see it is unknown and untested | ||
against a typical 0.3 mm for this fortnight
Rainfall over 15 to 28 August 2026, by year
attribution pendingWhat this is
Rainfall accumulated over 15 to 28 August 2026 and compared with the same calendar fortnight in each of the previous 26 years, as an area mean over the region. 14 of 14 days are compared; no days were excluded from EVERY year, not just this one, so the comparison stays like for like.
What this is not
Not a measurement of flooding. We have not measured flooding here. This page reports rainfall only. Flood extent is not assessed for European regions: the screen passed none of the six tested, because week-to-week satellite visibility varies enough that a ranking would rank the weather over the sensor. That is a limit we measured, not one we assumed.
Source. GPM IMERG Late Run v07, rainfall, NOT flooding. As of 28 August 2026.