Pavis climate

In Vol4 of the Pavis and Big Rubble Companion, the article on Pavis County states that Pavis recieves 44 inches of rain a year. I know several of the authors of that article post on this forum so I pose the question here.

Is this a mistake? If this is true, then Pavis County is quite different then what I had envisioned. 44" of rain is by no definition of the word, an arid climate. This is more rain than what falls in Portland or Seattle or through large portions of the pacific northwest. With that much rain, Pavis County should be a well forested region. Pine and scrub oak at the least, chapparall communities on the south facing slopes (unless Yelm travels exactly across the middle of the sky dome in which case slope facing wouldnt matter). And the water table would be easily accessible throughout the year, making Prax and Wastes much less difficult to live in.

Is there something I am missing? Or is the Pavis/Prax region not a desert at all, but just looks like one because of the God Age events? I assumed that the God Age battles made the land barren and made the climate arid.

-Mitch Lockhart