Earth’s most extreme rainfall records are stunning. The wettest place on the planet is generally considered to be the village of Mawsynram in northeastern India, which averages about 467 inches (nearly 39 feet) of rain per year. It’s positioned perfectly to catch monsoon rains as they rise up into the cool hills, condensing into nonstop downpours during the rainy season.
At the other extreme is the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, considered the driest place on Earth (outside of the polar deserts). Some weather stations in the Atacama have recorded zero rainfall for years at a time. A few places haven’t had any measurable rain in over 400 years, according to some studies. The desert is so dry and so high in altitude that NASA uses it to test Mars rovers - the conditions are the closest thing on Earth to Martian terrain.
Both extremes come down to geography. Mawsynram sits on the windward side of mountains that lift moisture-laden air upward, forcing it to dump rain. The Atacama sits in the rain shadow of the Andes mountains, which strip moisture out of incoming air before it ever reaches the desert. Same physics, opposite outcomes.
