. A complete geography. Briefly, — when air descends^ it becomesdenser and grows ivarmer ; then the sky is clear and the weather dry. Rain Belts in North America. — These facts have been wellillustrated in the rains of North America. The northeast trade winds, having gathered alarge amount of vapor fromthe Atlantic Ocean, theCarribbean Sea, and Gulfof Mexico, deposit it onthe windward slopes ofthe West Indies, SouthernMexico, and Central Amer-ica (Fig. 298). The south-western slopes of theseislands, however, receive asmaller quantity, and thewestern coast of Mexico istherefore arid. The pre-va
. A complete geography. Briefly, — when air descends^ it becomesdenser and grows ivarmer ; then the sky is clear and the weather dry. Rain Belts in North America. — These facts have been wellillustrated in the rains of North America. The northeast trade winds, having gathered alarge amount of vapor fromthe Atlantic Ocean, theCarribbean Sea, and Gulfof Mexico, deposit it onthe windward slopes ofthe West Indies, SouthernMexico, and Central Amer-ica (Fig. 298). The south-western slopes of theseislands, however, receive asmaller quantity, and thewestern coast of Mexico istherefore arid. The pre-vailing westerlies, havingtravelled a long distanceover the Pacific, likewisecause heavy rains along thewestern coast of North America (Fig. 299). But the land furthereast grows more arid, because these winds also lose their moisture inpassing over the land. Northern Mexico and southwestern UnitedStates, lying within the horse latitudes, where the air is descend-ing, receive very little rain and are arid (Fig. 299).. Fig. 298. The rainy east coasts and arid west coasts of tlie trade-wind belts. Also the rainy belt of calms of SouthAmerica. WINDS AND BAIN 265 other Rainy and Arid Regions of Northern Hemisphere -Otherregions lying within these belts illustrate the same principles Forexample, note (Fig. t - ^^ 298) what heavy rains are broughtto northern SouthAmerica by thenortheast tradewinds. The Ha-waiian Islands, alsolying within theirrange, are keptmoist by them,especially on thewindward side ofthe highlands, justas in the WestIndies. Bat the north-east trade winds of p^^ 2gg the Old World de- The heavy rainfall where the prevailing westerlies blow overposit little moisture, ^^^ ^ing coast, what is the condition farther eastwhat as is clearly shown ^ ^^^ *^ ^^ ^^^ ^i«^ ? Why ?by Figures 297 and 300. One reason is that they blow largely overland, rather than over water ; it is mostly level land, too. Anothervery important reason is that the air is moving from a cooler to aw
Size: 1657px × 1508px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectgeograp, bookyear1902
