In message <brbv88+3m89_at_...> "mr_tines" writes:
>Somewhat tangential to the winter thread...
>
>I must admit that I gave up believing any of the canonical Gloranthan
>meteorological or climatological details when I noticed _Drastic :
>Prax_ quote one of the earlier sources about the Wastes to state that
>they had a 20" annual rainfall, mainly distributed through the
>winter season.
>
>I live in East Anglia, a fertile farming region for grain and
>sugarbeet, and with natural tree cover - an area that is a technical
>semi-desert with only 18" annual rainfall, also mostly in the winter.
>
>OTOH, the proximity of the Wastes to Sartar is even more extreme than
>that which allows the rainshadow differentials between wet and rugged
>Wales (on the west at the same latitude) and dry East Anglia.
It's quite possible to have plenty of rain if the soil is too damaged
to grow much. Basically the water seeps into the sand or flows over the
rock too quickly for most plants to use it. Then there's the nasty
chaotic stuff in the ground (think heavy metals for a RW comparison)
which poisons or perverts the plants which can manage on intermittent
supplies of water. After all ever the wastes aren't entirely
uninhabitable - the Praxian nomads live there when they must.
--
Donald Oddy
http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/