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The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification BWh and BWk) is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert climates are dry and hold little moisture, quickly evaporating the already little rainfall they receive.
This is a list of countries by average annual precipitation. List. Per the World Bank (2017) [1] [2] Country mm/ year) Continent 1
Climate classification systems such as the Köppen climate classification system use average annual rainfall to help differentiate between differing climate regimes. Most of Australia is semi-arid or desert, making it the world's driest continent (excluding Antarctica).
As one travels from east to west across Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, average annual precipitation steadily decreases. Far western Texas (El Paso area) is desert, and average annual precipitation is less than twenty inches (510 mm) in westernmost Kansas and the Oklahoma Panhandle, where the climate qualifies as semi-arid.
The average temperature of −3 °C (26.6 °F) roughly coincides with the equatorward limit of frozen ground and snow cover lasting for a month or more. The second letter indicates the precipitation pattern—w indicates dry winters (driest winter month average precipitation less than one-tenth wettest summer month average precipitation).
The average annual precipitation in low latitude deserts is less than 250 mm. Relative humidity is very low – only 10% to 30% in interior locations, and even the dewpoints are typically very low, often being well below the freezing mark. Some deserts do not have rainfall all year round, they are located far from the ocean.
A modern example of desert farming is the Imperial Valley in California, which has high temperatures and average rainfall of just 3 in (76 mm) per year. [121] The economy is heavily based on agriculture and the land is irrigated through a network of canals and pipelines sourced entirely from the Colorado River via the All-American Canal .
The average annual temperature in the desert varies from about 13 to 22 °C (55 to 72 °F), depending on elevation and latitude. The mean annual precipitation for the Chihuahuan Desert is 235 mm (9.3 in) with a range of approximately 150–400 mm (6–16 in), although it receives more precipitation than most other warm desert ecoregions. [ 3 ]