Why is the Taklimakan Desert in Xinjiang, China covered with snow?

This should be due to a large-scale cold current invasion.

In recent days, heavy snow has been falling in most parts of southern Xinjiang, and the Taklimakan Desert, known as the "Sea of Death", has also been covered with heavy snow, especially in the southern part of the Taklimakan Desert. The hinterland of the desert is covered with snow, with a depth of nearly 4 mm, and the lowest temperature drops to MINUS 26 degrees Celsius.

In summer, the Taklimakan desert will be affected by water vapor from the Arctic Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, which will freeze and condense at high altitude and form snowfall. However, due to the lack of water vapor and the temperate desert in summer, snowfall will be short (the temperature difference between day and night is large here, and the temperature at night is 0, so snowfall should occur mostly after sunset).

In fact, the Gurbantunggut Desert in the north of Tianshan Mountain will be more affected by water vapor and snowfall, while the Taklimakan Desert is in the south of Tianshan Mountain, so a large part of water vapor will be consumed when crossing Tianshan Mountain.

The winter in Taklimakan should be dominated by high pressure from Siberia. Under normal circumstances, the air there is cold and dry; In summer, due to the blocking of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Taklimakan cannot absorb the water vapor in the ocean.

However, because it is an inland basin with high latitude, the cold high pressure formed around it in summer (it should not come from Mongolia in summer, but may come from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau) enters Taklimakan. Because of the hot and dry climate in Taklimakan, the humidity is not enough to cause precipitation. When Siberian cold air arrives in winter, if the cold air from Siberia is strong enough to cause a great temperature drop in Taklimakan, snowfall can be formed in the range. This kind of thing usually happens when a large-scale cold current invades.

The heavy snow and cooling weather in the Taklimakan desert have made the oil workers who fought day and night suffer from severe cold, but they have also brought them benefits. The yellow sand that troubles them from time to time is powerless under the cover of heavy snow. According to relevant sources, if this happens every year, the longest desert highway in the world can reduce the huge greening cost and even change the local microclimate.