Australia is the driest inhabited continent in the world; 70% of it is either arid or semi arid land.
Australia is so dry because we sit under the subtropical high-pressure belt, which encourages the air to push down, preventing the lift required for rain. Being under the high-pressure belt is enough to make it dry, but there are other systems called climate drivers that can make things worse from one year to the next.
Australia is the second-driest continent on the planet.
Antarctica is the driest continent on earth.
Australia is the world's smallest, flattest, and (after Antarctica) driest continent, but at 7.7 million square kilometers (3.0 million square miles) it is also the sixth largest country.
The world's lowest average yearly precipitation in 0.03" (0.08 cm) during a 59-year period at Arica Chile. Lane notes that no rainfall has ever been recorded at Calama in the Atacama Desert, Chile.
One of the driest areas in Australia however, is Birdsville in Queensland. The desert town experiences only 10 days of rainfall per year. Although going further up North in Queensland, areas in Bamaga and Weipa are subject to much heavier rainfall, with about 75 rainfall days per year.
The main reason for the formation of the Australian deserts is their location. Like most major deserts across the world they are found around a certain latitude (roughly 30° north / south of the equator) where the weather phenomena create a dry climate. Rainfall is unpredictable.
The Sahara Desert in Africa is the world's third largest desert, and it is larger than the continent of Australia.
The deserts of Australia or the Australian deserts cover about 2,700,000 km2 (1,000,000 sq mi), or 18% of the Australian mainland, but about 35% of the Australian continent receives so little rain, it is practically desert.
Northern Australia has been wetter across all seasons, but especially in the northwest during the tropical wet season. Year-to-year variability occurs against the background drying trend across much of the southern half of Australia (south of 26° S).
One reason behind this large landmass being so desolate is the shortage of rainfall. More than two-third part of the country only receives less than 500 mm annual rain. This arid, uninhabitable part of Australia lies in the middle of the continent (the Outback), away from the coasts.
South America is the wettest and has the largest river flow and evaporation (Table 1). Australia, with the lowest rainfall, discharges the least in consequence. Antarctica is an exception: it is very dry, and very little snow sublimates. Most water leaves this continent as ice.
Q) Which Australian City Has The Worst Weather? Adelaide and Melbourne take the crown when it comes to cities with the worst weather in Australia. Both these cities are generally a lot cooler than others and also experience a lot more rainfall and fewer sunny days.
Between about 100,000 and 13,000 years ago, the interior of the Australian land mass was more arid than present.
Australia's exceptional aridity is the result of a unique combination of factors. Cold ocean currents off the west coast means there is little evaporation to form rainclouds, while the Great Dividing Range that runs down Australia's east coast prevents rain from penetrating far inland.
Australia is the driest inhabited continent in the world; 70% of it is either arid or semi arid land. The arid zone is defined as areas which receive an average rainfall of 250mm or less.
It is one of the largest countries on Earth. Although it is rich in natural resources and has a lot of fertile land, more than one-third of Australia is desert.
The Pilbara region in Western Australia is the hottest area of the desert, known to reach 48-50°C.
US and Australian researchers say settlers who came to Australia 50,000 years ago and set fires that burned off natural flora and fauna may have triggered a cataclysmic weather change that turned the country's interior into the dry desert it is today.
The Great Victoria Desert (GVD) is the largest of Australia's deserts, stretching from eastern Western Australia across the western half of South Australia, encompassing 420,000 square kilometres of land..
A white person is defined as a person who has European ancestry. In Australia, about 90.2 percent of the nation's population is white. The following is a breakdown of some of the major ethnic groups that fall under this category: To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member.
The wettest city in the world is Buenaventura, where it rains 258 days per year. Australia's rainiest city is Cairns in Queensland, with 117 days of precipitation. The UK's wettest city is Londonderry in Northern Ireland (147 days). The wettest city in the US is Hilo, Hawaii (211 days).
In 2021, Tasmania received the highest annual rainfall of any state or territory in Australia at an average of 1378 millimeters.
The wettest regions are around Cairns in far north Queensland and the west coast of Tasmania around Strahan, about 2795 kilometres to the south.