Rain shadow

A region on the leeward side of a mountain range that receives less precipitation because mountains force moisture-bearing air upward and remove much of its moisture on the windward side.

Orographic lift: The upward movement of air forced by terrain such as a mountain slope. Mountains lift moist air, initiating the cooling and precipitation that dry the air crossing them.
Atacama Desert: A hyperarid desert along the Pacific coast of northern Chile. The Andes contribute a major rain shadow that limits moisture arriving from the east.
Orographic enhancement: The increase in precipitation caused by terrain forcing moist air upward. It describes the wet-side counterpart to the drying that forms a rain shadow.
Trade winds: Persistent tropical easterly winds that flow toward the equatorial low-pressure belt. Their direction can determine which slopes receive moist air and which lie in a rain shadow.
Adiabatic process: A change in a gas’s temperature caused by expansion or compression without heat exchange with its surroundings. Rising air cools through expansion, while descending air warms through compression.
Patagonian Desert: A cold desert in eastern Patagonia, chiefly within Argentina. The Andes block much of the moisture carried westward from the Pacific.
Aridity: A persistent climatic lack of available water, measured relative to atmospheric demand. Reduced precipitation can contribute to dry conditions, though aridity also depends on evaporation.
Hadley cell: A tropical atmospheric circulation cell with rising air near the equator and sinking air in the subtropics. Its descending dry air creates broad arid belts without requiring mountain barriers.
Lapse rate: The rate at which atmospheric temperature changes with altitude. Temperature changes with height determine when rising air reaches saturation and forms clouds.
Great Basin: A large arid region of the western United States with internally drained watersheds. Successive mountain ranges restrict Pacific moisture reaching the basin.

Linked from 67 pages