California: Mojave Desert Shadow of Dryness
2 min readApr 5, 2016
The Mojave Desert takes its name from ‘Hamakhaave’, meaning ‘beside the water’ in the language of the native Mohave people.
This high-desert area takes up a significant part of the state of California.
It’s boundaries are defined by the presence of Yucca brevifolia — Joshua trees.
Rain-producing weather is prevented from reaching the Mojave due to wind directions and mountain formations, thus casting a what is called a rain-shadow — a “shadow of dryness”.
Death Valley is both the lowest and hottest place in North America.
The desert is home to an incredible estimated 2,000 species of plants.
reference: Wikipedia
