Rain shadow in the context of "Prevailing winds"

Nevada (/nəˈvædə/ nə-VAD-ə; Spanish: [neˈβaða] ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It is also sometimes placed in the Mountain West and Southwestern United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, the 32nd-most populous, and the ninth-least densely populated U.S. state. Nearly three-quarters of Nevada's population live in Clark County, which contains the Las Vegas–Paradise metropolitan area, including three of the state's four largest incorporated cities. Nevada's capital is Carson City. Las Vegas is the largest city in the state. Nevada is the westernmost U.S. state without coastline and also the westernmost landlocked first-level country subdivison in the Americas.

Nevada is officially known as the "Silver State" because of the importance of silver to its history and economy. It is also known as the "Battle Born State" because it achieved statehood during the Civil War (the words "Battle Born" also appear on its state flag); due to the presidency of Abraham Lincoln, the Union benefited immensely from the support of newly awarded statehood by the infusion of the monetary support of nearly $400 million in silver ore generated at the time by the Comstock Lode. It is also known as the "Sagebrush State", for the native plant of the same name; and as the "Sage-hen State". The state's name means "snowy" in Spanish, referring to Nevada's extensive number of mountain ranges capped with snow in winter, which help make Nevada among the highest US states by mean altitude. These include the Carson Range portion of the Sierra Nevada (and about 1/3 of Lake Tahoe by surface area), as well as the Toiyabe Range, Ruby Mountains, and Spring Mountains (which exemplify the sky islands of the Great Basin montane forests), in western, central, northeastern, and southern Nevada, respectively. Nevada is the driest U.S. state, both lying in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada and receiving among the highest solar irradiance of any U.S. state, and is thus largely desert and semi-arid. Nevada comprises the majority of the Great Basin, as well as a large portion of the Mojave Desert. In 2020, 80.1% of the state's land was managed by various jurisdictions of the U.S. federal government, both civilian and military.

The Judaean Desert or Judean Desert (Hebrew: מִדְבַּר יְהוּדָה, romanized: Midbar Yehuda, Arabic: برية الخليل, romanized: Bariyat al-Khalil) is a desert in the West Bank and Israel that stretches east of the ridge of the Judaean Mountains and in their rain shadow, so east of Jerusalem, and descends to the Dead Sea.

The Judaean Desert has historically functioned as a place of refuge for rebels and displaced populations. According to the Hebrew Bible, David took shelter there while fleeing from King Saul. The Hasmonean rulers of Judaea, and their successor, Herod the Great, built several monumental fortresses in the region, including Herodium, Hyrcania, and Masada. In the period of the Jewish–Roman Wars, the desert became a key theater of conflict, with Roman forces besieging major strongholds. Caves in the area, such as the Cave of Letters and the Cave of Horrors, later served as hiding places for Jewish refugees, preserving personal documents, religious texts, skeletons, weapons, clothing, and household items—thanks to the region's arid climate. The desert also attracted religious sects, including the classical-era Jewish ascetics of Qumran (likely Essenes) and Byzantine-era Christian monks who practiced spiritual isolation in local lavras.

Kahoʻolawe is the smallest of the eight main volcanic islands of the Hawaiian Islands. Unpopulated, it lies about seven miles (11 km) southwest of Maui. The island is 11 mi (18 km) long by 6.0 mi (9.7 km) wide, with a total land area of 44.97 sq mi (116.47 km). Its highest point is the crater of Lua Makika, at the summit of Puʻu Moaulanui, about 1,477 feet (450 m) above sea level.

Kahoʻolawe is relatively dry, with an average annual rainfall of less than 26 in (66 cm) resulting from a combination of being too low to generate much orographic precipitation from the northeastern trade winds and lying in the rain shadow of eastern Maui's 10,023-foot-high (3,055 m) volcano, Haleakalā. More than one quarter of Kahoʻolawe has been eroded down to saprolitic hardpan soil, largely on exposed surfaces near the summit.

The Mojave Desert (/moʊˈhɑːvi, mə-/ ; Mohave: Hayikwiir Mat'aar; Spanish: Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains and Transverse Ranges in the Southwestern United States. Named after the indigenous Mohave people, it is located primarily in southeastern California and southwestern Nevada, with small portions extending into Arizona and Utah.

The Mojave Desert, together with the Sonoran, Chihuahuan, and Great Basin deserts, form a larger North American desert. Of these, the Mojave is the smallest and driest. It displays typical basin and range topography, generally having a pattern of a series of parallel mountain ranges and valleys. It is also the site of Death Valley, which is the lowest elevation in North America. The Mojave Desert is often colloquially called the "high desert", as most of it lies between 2,000 and 4,000 feet (610 and 1,220 m). It supports a diversity of flora and fauna.

Nyiri Desert, also called The Nyika, Taru Desert, Taru desert, is a desert in southern Kenya. It is located east of Lake Magadi and between Amboseli, Tsavo West and Nairobi National Parks. A high proportion of Kajiado County's land area is covered by the Nyiri Desert. Its aridity is caused by the rain shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro.

The shortgrass prairie is an ecosystem located in the Great Plains of North America. The two most dominant grasses in the shortgrass prairie are blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis) and buffalograss (Bouteloua dactyloides), the two less dominant grasses in the prairie are greasegrass (Tridens flavus) and sideoats grama (Bouteloua curtipendula). The prairie was formerly maintained by grazing pressure of American bison, which is the keystone species. Due to its semiarid climate, the shortgrass prairie receives on average less precipitation than that of the tall and mixed grass prairies to the east.

Lying largely in the rain shadow of the mountains to the west, the prairie includes lands in the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains and extends east as far as Nebraska and north into Saskatchewan. The prairie stretches through parts of Alberta, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Kansas, and passes south through the high plains of Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico.

Eastern Oregon is a region of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is not an officially recognized geographic entity; thus, the boundaries of the region vary according to context. It is sometimes understood to include only the eight easternmost counties in the state; in other contexts, it includes the entire area east of the Cascade Range. Cities in the basic eight-county definition include Baker City, Burns, Hermiston, Pendleton, Boardman, John Day, La Grande, and Ontario. Umatilla County is home to the largest population base in Eastern Oregon, accounting for 42% of the region's residents — more than twice that of the region’s second most populous, Malheur County. Hermiston, located in Umatilla County, is the largest city in the region, accounting for 10% of the population. Major industries include transportation/warehousing, timber, agriculture and tourism. The main transportation corridors are I-84, U.S. Route 395, U.S. Route 97, U.S. Route 26, U.S. Route 30, and U.S. Route 20.

Compared to that of the western part of the state, the climate of Eastern Oregon has a drier continental climate, with much greater seasonal variations in temperature. Unlike the Willamette Valley, Eastern Oregon receives a significant amount of snow in the winter. Some areas receive fewer than 10 inches (250 mm) of rain yearly, classifying them as deserts. This desert climate is in part due to a rain shadow effect caused by the Cascade Range. Pine and juniper forests cover 35% of Eastern Oregon, much in the mountains that include the Blue Mountains, Strawberry Mountains, Wallowa Mountains, Trout Creek Mountains, Ochoco Mountains, and Steens Mountain. Volcanic basalt flows from the Columbia River Basalt Group covered large sections of Eastern Oregon 6 to 17 million years ago. Other landforms include the Alvord Desert, Owyhee Desert, Warner Valley, Deschutes River, Owyhee River, Grande Ronde River, Joseph Canyon, The Honeycombs, and Malheur Butte.

A Foehn, or Föhn (German pronunciation: [føːn], UK: /fɜːn/, US: /feɪn/ fayn, US also /fʌn, fɜːrn/ fu(r)n), is a type of dry, relatively warm downslope wind in the lee of a mountain range. It is a rain shadow wind that results from the subsequent adiabatic warming of air that has dropped most of its moisture on windward slopes (see orographic lift). As a consequence of the different adiabatic lapse rates of moist and dry air, the air on the leeward slopes becomes warmer than equivalent elevations on the windward slopes.

Foehn winds can raise temperatures by as much as 14 °C (25 °F) in just a matter of hours. Switzerland, southern Germany, and Austria have a warmer climate due to the Foehn, as moist winds off the Mediterranean Sea blow over the Alps.