Are deserts hot?

Question

What are the characteristics of a desert climate?

Answer 1

Deserts are characterized by very low annual rainfal amounts. Some deserts could be considered "hot", but there also are "cold" deserts.

Answer 2

The only consistent characteristic of a desert climate is very low rainfall. Some deserts get very hot during the day but all can get cold at night. The Antarctic is a desert but it cannot be called hot by any stretch of the imagination.. The world's major deserts are under the intense high pressure systems at the poles and under the sub-tropical ridge - the belt of high pressure that lies about 30° to 40° south and north right round the globe. There are even deserts at sea under the ridge, the sailors of old called these the "horse latitudes".

Air descends in high pressure so it doesn't form cloud. With no cloud there is no rain.

Answer 3

I've lived in the desert all my life - I love the desert and the extreme of HOT and COLD.

In the summer it can get up to 125 degree in some regions. In the winter the temperature can fall below freezing.

Right now (in the desert - the high was 38 degrees - midday) - that's COLD for a desert in full sunlight.

Deserts are devoid of rich forms of flora, and are very arid (dry). Soil coditions are poor, with clay like soils which have very poor water retention value. When it does rain - deserts can turn into flood zones in a matter of minutes (do to this poor soil condition).

Come on out and visit a desert and check it out. Some deserts are very beautiful - I recommend the Sonora desert of southern Arizona. It's higher in altitude than most deserts and gets more water so the flora(and fauna) is more diversified.

Animals are resticted to those that can survive in the extreme conditions of the desert, usually reptiles, and insects, but you'll fnd an odd cat, or big horn sheep if you're lucky (and near a water source).

Answer 4

In geography, a desert is a landscape form or region that receives very little precipitation. Generally, deserts are defined as areas that receive an average annual precipitation of less than 250 mm (10 inches). The terminology used to define deserts is complex. 'True deserts' where vegetation cover is exceedingly sparse, correspond to the 'hyperarid' regions of the earth, where rainfall is exceedingly rare and infrequent. Deserts are however part of a wider classification of regions that, on an average annual basis, have a moisture deficit (i.e. they can potentially lose more than is received). These areas are collectively called 'drylands' and extend over almost half of the earth's land surface. Because desert is a vague term, the use of 'dryland', and its subdivisions of hyper arid, arid, semiarid and dry-subhumid, is to be preferred, and is approved by the United Nations

* anartica is actually a large desert and it is always cold!

Answer 5

Well, in the two tours of duty my son has spent in Kuwait and Iraq over the past three years, he would IM me and say the temperature in the day time reached around 132 degrees. He said they'd shower and no sooner than he'd walk outside the tent he might as well not have showered. He said there would be sand storms pretty regularly and that made a mess out of everything and made life miserable. I complained about the heat down here in Texas, our home, once, and he said, "Dad, you don't even know heat!" I guess 132 degrees is a bit higher than 98 or 99 or 100 degrees. God Bless you.

Answer 6

Less than 10 inches of precipitation a year. Temperature doesn't matter. It just happens that the most famous deserts are hot.

Answer 7

Lack of (or little) percipitation. It has nothing to do with tempature. The polar caps are also deserts as they have very little snowfall. What does come down does not melt as they are so cold, so any pictures you see will show snow on the ground (or on the ice cap of the North Polar region) or blowing snow, not a real snowstorm.

Answer 8

Hot in the midday but can be freezing at night.

Answer 9

hot and dry

Answer 10

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