Elena Tiriel
Message:
37642
07 Feb 05 4:13 PM
Reply To:
37640
General Audience
Read-Only
Not being a climatologist
, I can only relate what I found in
The Atlas of Middle-earth, by Karen Wynn Fonstadt, in the section on Climate:
"East of the Misty Mountains the moderating marine influence was lost. As Aragorn said during the boat trip south: '[We] are far from the sea. Here the world is cold until the sudden spring.' Even in Rohan there was snow cover from November to March in the Long Winter [of 2758-59], although it was normally mild, as Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli found it in late February.
Mountains often produce steppe, or even desert, climates on their leeward sides; yet this was not the case of either the Misty or White Mountains. The grasslands of Rohan could have resulted from this
rain-shadow effect, but east of the Misty Mountains lay widespread forests -- perhaps due to less evaporation in the cooler air of the north."
On the Climate map for the Third Age, Fonstadt shows "Mild Winter, Warm Summer" (examples: Eastern Europe, Arkansas to Wisconsin) for the larger part of Rohan that lies east of the Gap of Rohan. The parts in and west of the Gap are shown as "Mild Winter, Mild Summer" (examples: England, North Central Europe, Western Oregon), due to the increased influence of the sea.
Hope this helps!
- Barbara
