Rare snow turned the largest desert in China into a winter wonderland.

Spectacular drone footage filmed in the city of Alar in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region on January 14, shows the heavy snow covering the sand at Taklimakan Desert.

The Taklimakan Desert located in the central area of Tarim Basin is the largest desert in the country, which is known as the "sea of death".

Chen Ying, the chief climate forecasting expert at Xinjiang Climate Center said: "With global warming, the occurrence of extreme meteorological events tends to be more frequent and the extreme frequency of local precipitation in southern Xinjiang Basin is significantly enhanced.

"In recent years, the average winter precipitation in the whole of southern Xinjiang has shown an increasing trend."

The average winter snowfall in Tarim Basin from 1991 to 2020 was 5.7 millimetres, which is 0.6 millimetres higher than that from 1981 to 2010 (5.1 millimetres) with an increased rate of 11.8%.

The video was provided by local media with permission.

随着新一轮冷空气的来袭，中国最大的沙漠——塔克拉玛干大沙漠出现大范围降雪，1月12号至13日，位于新疆阿拉尔市境内的塔克拉玛干沙漠迎来了一场久违的冬雪，银装素裹的白色沙海一改往日的金黄，呈现出别样的梦幻色彩。连绵不绝的沙丘披上银装，白雪随着沙丘的起伏呈现出流线型的波纹，从空中俯瞰地面，黄白交织的沙丘呈现出“虎皮纹”，落雪的沙漠，目之所及，清冷孤寂，美成人间绝色。