Four major mountain ranges lie between Death Valley and the ocean, each one adding to an increasingly drier rainshadow effect. By the time the clouds reach the mountains' east side they no longer have as much available moisture, creating a dry "rainshadow". As the clouds rise up they cool and the moisture condenses to fall as rain or snow on the western side of the ranges. Winter storms moving inland from the Pacific Ocean must pass over mountain ranges to continue east. Why is Death Valley's climate so extreme? Why so dry?
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