Geographical facts that surprise you (move, time, forests)

[jtur88]

The average annual rainfall at Dungeness, Kent, is 24 inches per year, more than double the threshold for classification as a desert, and it doesn't even meet the criteria for semi-desert. In nearby Hastings and Folkestone, the average is around 35 inches. It is raining lightly in Dungeness at this moment, as I write.

Dungeness, England Travel Weather Averages (Weatherbase)

It is possible that it is called a "desert" because of its denuded landscape, owing to high sea winds sweeping over the landacape. For the same reason that North Carolina's Outer Banks could easily be called a desert, in spite of abundant rainfall.

[Mac15]

Originally Posted by Trimac20

It must be due to other factors than rainfall because nowhere in Britain is anywhere dry enough to be a desert.

Most places in the United Kingdom are drier than the East coast of the United States. Even where I live we average 800mm of rainfall annually.

Some places have 500mm which is semi-arid.

[P London]

Nowhere in the Uk to my knowledge has 500mm of rain.

[scrantiX]

Geographical fact 101

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[Trimac20]

Originally Posted by owenc

Most places in the United Kingdom are drier than the East coast of the United States. Even where I live we average 800mm of rainfall annually.

Some places have 500mm which is semi-arid.

Yes but they also look like this.

It's not just mm but also no of days rainfall, cloud cover, temperature, evaporation rates. All of England has a moist maritime climate.

[B87]

Originally Posted by P London

Nowhere in the Uk to my knowledge has 500mm of rain.

Most of East Anglia only has around 500mm. In very dry years, some locations in the SE have recorded around 300mm.

[chascarrillo]

Anyway, I would not consider around 500 mm a semi-arid or really dry climate. Far for being a desert.

[green_mariner]

It cannot be debated that England has desert of any kind. Just because a place is denuded and full of sand doesn't make it a desert. You have beaches all over Portugal and Spain. No one refers to those places as deserts. The ironic thing is that Spain has more places that could be classified as desert based on lack of rainfall.

[green_mariner]

Tristan da Cunha is the world's most isolated inhabited island. The nearest island is 1,350 miles away, at Santa Helena. It is over 1700 miles from South Africa and over 2,000 miles from South America.

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by chascarrillo

Anyway, I would not consider around 500 mm a semi-arid or really dry climate. Far for being a desert.

Finally, something making sense. 250 mm or less of rain is considered a desert.