World Weather

[Builder]

This is going to sound a bit stupid, but is there a weather man here? I am wondering about how the climate should have been IRL in Randland and other regions of the planet. Should the Aiel Waste in reality be a desert, or could it have been a like Randland. What makes Randland different that it is full of vegetation when the Waste isn't?

 

This isn't your average weather thread. This might reveal how the climate is acting on that planet, like the sea currents and the wind currents, plus many other things.

[fikkie77]

Look at the maps: the mountain range between Randland and the Waste (the Dragonwall or The Spine of the World) is the reason that the Aiel Waste is a desert: all clouds run into the mountains and rain out before crossing they can enter the Waste.

 

For the rest it's roughly the normal (European) climate: cold in the North, hot in the South, more humid near the Ocean. The only abnormality is the Blight, but that has nothing to do with the regular weather. The heat during books 5-9 and the cold after that isn't normal weather either.

[Builder]

Well I wasn't talking about abnormal things, and the Waste was only an example. My biggest question mark is at the wind and sea currents.

[fikkie77]

I don't believe there is anything about that in both the series and the guide.

[mb]

Vegetation generally takes place around bodies of water (lakes, rivers, seas, etc) and/or around places where water is easily transported to.

Soil type I take is another criteria.

 

The Waste climate I take has changed after Rhuidean was revealed.  (A lake was formed and rivers spread out from that lake.)

 

[luftstark]

(A lake was formed and rivers spread out from that lake.)

 

Formed? Spread? ahhh i may be misremembering, but IIRC the lake was always there, and when the strange mists were dispersed by Rand vs Asmodean showdown the lake was revealed!!! And i can't remember a reference to rivers being formed!!!

[Barmacral]

Wasn't the lake deep underground? I had thought Rand had to use the one power to pull the water up from the lake to the fountains.

[wconn1979]

Wasn't the lake deep underground? I had thought Rand had to use the one power to pull the water up from the lake to the fountains.

 

Well I dont have the books with me but according to http://www.encyclopaedia-wot.org/ " Rand notes that there is now a great chasm in the earth all the way down to the underground ocean. A three-mile lake is forming outside the city."

[Builder]

So, there is a chasm with water and a lake with water or is the chasm filled with water making it a lake? I would also believe that rivers spring from the lake because that's what rivers do. They either go from a lake or a mountain.

[Serenla]

When Rand and Asmo were fighting in Rhuidean or when Rand made balefire to stop Lanfear from killing Asmo, a chasm was made that went all the way down to where the water was under the desert.  The water then filled this chasm and made a lake. 

 

There has been no mention in the books about rivers forming, but given enough time I'm sure they will.  Water tends to flow...

 

When Rand is leaving the Waste, he asks Asmo about the pier he sees near the mountain top.  This leads me to believe that the Waste was the ocean floor before the Breaking.  With the mountains to either side as fikkie77 points out, it would rarely rain.  And with the land being mostly sand, there is a limited number of plants that can grow there, as mb points out. 

 

Some mention was made about storm season off the coast of Ebou Dar by or to Setalle Anan.  I'm assuming it would be similar to the east coast of the Americas' hurricane season. 

Other than that I don't remember much about weather other than cold in the north and hot and humid in the south.  Since this is our planet, I'm assuming weather patterns are very similar. 

[Builder]

I see...

 

Well, if it's our planet then it just makes it more interesting to find out what parts of that planet compares to our, and then figure out how the weather patterns are.

[Kaznen]

All the water of the Waste Lake is emptying into a basin.  I doubt rivers will flow from it.

[Dunedain Fal]

It is very bad for water to collect in a basin. The water will turn poisonous.  It need to circulate in order to retain the oxygen and be free of carbon dioxide.

[Builder]

Yeah, but this isn't a basin, it's a chasm with water, so perhaps there are underground rivers that could go upwards somewhere, or the Aiel simply have to dig which isn't uncommon in desert areas.

[Thorum]

In the quote on the previous page, there seems to be mention of an "ocean" by RJ. Which would mean no problem as to polution: too much water ;D

[Builder]

So the chasm turned into an ocean? That's a lot of area! Where is this new ocean?

[Thorum]

" Rand notes that there is now a great chasm in the earth all the way down to the underground ocean. A three-mile lake is forming outside the city."

 

This would mean a chasm opening up in an ocean: a hole the size of a three-mile lake in the ground to the ocean.

[Builder]

As long as it keeps the local area humid, and possibly later also regionally.