Editing Rain shadow (section)

===South America===
[[File:Satellite image of Bolivia in June 2002.jpg|thumb|230px|The Andes mountains block rain and moisture from the [[Amazon basin]] to the west ([[Bolivia]]).]]
* The [[Atacama Desert]] in [[Chile]] is the driest non-polar desert on Earth because it is blocked from moisture by the [[Andes Mountains]] to the east while the [[Humboldt Current]] causes persistent atmospheric stability.
* [[Cuyo (Argentina)|Cuyo]] and [[Patagonia|Eastern Patagonia]] is rain shadowed from the prevailing westerly winds by the [[Andes]] range and is arid. The aridity of the lands next to eastern piedmont of the Andes decreases to the south due to a decrease in the height of the Andes with the consequence that the [[Patagonian Desert]] develop more fully at the Atlantic coast contributing to shaping the climatic pattern known as the [[Arid Diagonal]].<ref name=Bruniard>{{cite journal |last=Bruniard |first=Enrique D. |date=1982 |title=La diagonal árida Argentina: un límite climático real |language=es |journal=Revista Geográfica |pages=5–20 }}</ref> The Argentinian wine region of Cuyo and Northern Patagonia is almost completely dependent on irrigation, using water drawn from the many rivers that drain glacial ice from the [[Andes]].
* The [[Guajira Peninsula]] in northern Colombia is in the rain shadow of the [[Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta]] and despite its tropical latitude is almost arid, receiving almost no rainfall for seven to eight months of the year and being incapable of cultivation without irrigation.