One of the driest regions on earth is shifting green, as an influx of heavy rainfall causes vegetation to grow in the typically barren landscape.

Satellite images released by NASA show pockets of plant life popping up all over the Sahara Desert after an extratropical cyclone drenched a large swath of northwestern Africa on Sept. 7 and Sept. 8.

Treeless landscapes in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya – areas that rarely receive rain – are now seeing traces of green sprouting up, according to the NASA Earth Observatory.