Question

How do mountains influence climate?

Answer 1

The mountains are one of the numerous climatic factors. They represent natural barriers for the air masses, meaning that they can stop the air masses, modify them, cause precipitation, or dry winds. When the air masses come upon a mountain, they start to build up as they are not able to pass through it. This results in condensation and precipitation on the windward side of the mountain, making the windward side having much more moderate and wetter climate. On the other side, the leeward side gets only dry air masses going down. This makes makes this side of the mountain warmer and dry, often resulting in arid or semi-arid climates.