Camanchaca

For the genus of fungi, see Camanchaca (fungus).

Camanchaca in Bosque de Fray Jorge National Park

Camanchacas are an unusual feature of the Climate of Chile, being cloud banks that form on the coast of the driest desert on earth, the Atacama Desert, and move inland. On the side of the mountains where these cloud banks form, the camanchaca is a dense fog that does not drop any rain. Scientists have devised a fog collection system of polypropylene netting to capture the water droplets in the fog to produce running water for villages in these otherwise desert areas.