For this research project, I plan to compare land elevation to total rainfall. I will illustrate the process of orographic precipitation and the effects it has on the land. Using data from web sites such as worldcimate.com, I will compare the information on the graphs in order to determine what elevations receive the most rainfall. Orographic precipitation is interesting to me because I always wondered how regions of higher elevation received more rain or snow. Also orographic precipitation can be very significant because it can be used to predict flooding during storms. People who live in mountain regions could be notified that during a storm they will receive a higher percent of rainf ...view middle of the document...
Consequently since there is no precipitation, a warming, drying wind can often blow down from the leeward side of the mountain range. Valleys and lowlands on the leeward side of mountain ranges receive much less precipitation and are said to be in the rain shadow of the mountains.Orographic precipitation can occur at any latitude, any season, and at any time of the day. The only conditions are that there must be a topographic barrier and moist air must move over it. San Diego County is a great example of this rain shadow effect. Death Valley and other mountain-sheltered valleys of the western and southwestern United States are also rain shadow deserts. The Patagonian Monte Desert on the leeward side of the Andes Mountains in South America is an extreme example of the rain shadow effect.According to the website http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov, the 95 Arizona Program (NOAA, AMP, and ADWR) measured and simulated orographic induced precipitation over Arizona's watershed. They retrieved information and data by remote sensors and mesoscale/cloud scale and numerically models plotted data. Results of this study indicated that the higher elevations received a significant higher amount of rain and concluded that the steeper the slop the more rain and greater chance of flooding.I gathered d...
