North America’s largest desert, where moisture arrives as snow—if it arrives at all.
With an area of about 200,000 square miles (518,000 square km), the Great Basin is the largest desert in North America. It lies mainly in Nevada and western Utah, but stretches into California and Idaho. Classified as a cold desert, the Great Basin’s elevations range from 3,900 to 9,800 ft (1,200 to 3,000 m). The Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountain ranges block most moisture from the Pacific Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, forming a rain-shadow area. So the average annual precipitation is only 12 in (30 cm), and usually arrives as snow. A single “wet year” can often be followed by many years of drought. Habitats here vary greatly, with mountaintop “islands” of bristlecone or pinyon and juniper forests separated by sagebrush-filled valleys or arid salt lakes—in some places, the soil is so salty that no plants...
Read moreIf your looking for the popular bakery Great Basin Desserts, this is not it. I’ve been wandering aimlessly in search of a red velvet Bundt cake for an hour...
Read more"Great Basin Desert" is probably an overstatement. It's a Good Basin Desert. You won't be disappointed but you won't be blown...
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