EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -A rain shadow area is an area of dry land that lies on the leeward(or downwind) side of a mountain. High mountains act as barriers for cold or hot winds; they may also cause precipitation if they are high enough and lie in the path of rain-bearing winds. The leeward side of the mountains remains dry.

Detailed explanation-2: -A rain shadow is a patch of land that has been forced to become a desert because mountain ranges blocked all plant-growing, rainy weather. On one side of the mountain, wet weather systems drop rain and snow. On the other side of the mountain-the rain shadow side-all that precipitation is blocked.

Detailed explanation-3: -An area on the leeward (downwind) side of a mountain or mountain range where precipitation is significantly less than that on the windward (upwind) side is considered to lie within the mountain’s rain shadow (also known as precipitation shadow).

Detailed explanation-4: -We call this dry side of the mountain the leeward side. If wind is approaching from the west, the rain shadow is on the east. If the wind is approaching from the east, the rain shadow is on the west. Whichever side the wind is approaching from is called the windward side.

Detailed explanation-5: -An island’s windward side faces the prevailing, or trade, winds, whereas the island’s leeward side faces away from the wind, sheltered from prevailing winds by hills and mountains.