Mountains are game changers when it comes to the weather of a place. The landscape and climate of an area near a mountain depend on whether it lies on the leeward or windward side of the mountain.
Windward, as the name suggests, is land facing the prevailing winds in that region. These winds hit the mountain and rise up. As the air moves up, it cools and forms clouds. These clouds then fall down as rain. So the windward side ends up with all the rainfall and also has the most fertile land and better weather conditions.
Once the winds have deposited their moisture on the windward side, they descend on the other side (leeward side) of the mountain as hot and dry winds. This side of the mountain is also called the rain shadow area since it gets very little rain. It is usually characterized by hot, dry weather. Many of the world’s biggest deserts are found in this area. Death Valley, USA, behind the Sierra Nevada range is in the rain shadow area of the mountains and is one of the driest places on the planet. Similarly the Gobi Desert is also located in the rain shadow of the Himalayas.
Picture Credit : Google
