It is known as the driest place in the world where some weather stations have never recorded any rain.

So visitors to Chile’s Atacama desert could be forgiven for being just a little surprised to find snow there in recent days.

Residents of San Pedro de Atacama, around 750 miles from the capital Santiago, say the downfall was the heaviest in three decades for the area, described as the driest hot desert on Earth.

Now there are fears the melting ice and accompanying rainfall could cause some rivers to flood as has previously happened.

The national tourism office says the road to the city was blocked temporarily because of the unusual weather, it was reported by Sky News.

Officials expect more rain in the coming days, but have not ordered any evacuation.

The Atacama desert, which spans from Chile to Peru, is made up mostly of salt lakes, sand and felsic lava and receives an average rainfall of just 15mm (0.59 in) per year.

A few areas get as little as 1mm and some weather stations have never had any at all.

At night, temperatures can drop to as low as −25C in the zone of Ollague, while during the day it can reach between 25-30C in the shade.

A Canadian radio host and newspaper columnist took off her top during an interview with her local mayor this week and continued asking him questions bare-chested.

Lori Welbourne, who hosts the radio show On The Rocks and writes a column for the Province newspaper, was talking to Walter Gray, mayor of Kelowna in

British Columbia, about whether it was legal in the town for women to bare their breasts in public.

‘What if I went walking down the street topless?’ she asked in the recorded interview.

But before Gray could answer her question, Welbourne handed him her microphone and undid the strap on her dress, exposing her breasts.
‘What are you doing,’ he asked, to which she replied, ‘it’s really hot in here.’

After regaining his composure, Gray explained that while someone may be tempted to call the police there is little authorities could do because it is in fact entirely legal for a woman to be topless anywhere a man can be.

Public toplessness is not illegal anywhere in Canada unless it’s deemed to be indecent.

Groups of women turned out shirtless in cities including New York on August 25 to celebrate a women’s right to bare her breasts in public. The annual event was started in 2007.