Someone smart is going to have to answer but it is the lack of rain that defines a desert rather than the temperature. I imagine this is determined by closeness to water, currents, and a million other things. Temperature I am sure is a factor, but far from the only one.
Now hopefully someone smart who actually knows what they are talking about answers. ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ
You’re correct. In fact the largest desert in the world is actually extremely cold. It’s not the Sahara Desert, it’s the Antarctic Desert. A lack of precipitation defines a desert, not the temperature. The image you have in your head of the sand dunes, oases, mirages and a relentless sun are aspects of desert in hot climates. But those are not features that define all deserts.
You are also correct that the deciding factors for precipitation involve proximity to water sources, air currents, etc. If there is no water to evaporate to turn to rain nearby, or no air flow from water sources to be blown in, or if the temperature is so low that the humidity remains essentially zero at all times, then little to no precipitation can happen in a region. That’s a desert.
Many of the world’s deserts exist - at least in part - because of rain shadow effects from nearby mountain ranges. The Andes range creates the Atacama desert. The Himalayas create the dry Tibetan plateau. The Sierra Nevada and Cascade ranges create a lot of desert in the western US.
Someone smart is going to have to answer but it is the lack of rain that defines a desert rather than the temperature. I imagine this is determined by closeness to water, currents, and a million other things. Temperature I am sure is a factor, but far from the only one.
Now hopefully someone smart who actually knows what they are talking about answers. ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ
You’re correct. In fact the largest desert in the world is actually extremely cold. It’s not the Sahara Desert, it’s the Antarctic Desert. A lack of precipitation defines a desert, not the temperature. The image you have in your head of the sand dunes, oases, mirages and a relentless sun are aspects of desert in hot climates. But those are not features that define all deserts.
You are also correct that the deciding factors for precipitation involve proximity to water sources, air currents, etc. If there is no water to evaporate to turn to rain nearby, or no air flow from water sources to be blown in, or if the temperature is so low that the humidity remains essentially zero at all times, then little to no precipitation can happen in a region. That’s a desert.
When the rain leaves the sky, like a burnt oven pie, that’s a-deee-sert.
Many of the world’s deserts exist - at least in part - because of rain shadow effects from nearby mountain ranges. The Andes range creates the Atacama desert. The Himalayas create the dry Tibetan plateau. The Sierra Nevada and Cascade ranges create a lot of desert in the western US.