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What Are the Conditions Like in Deserts?

Deserts cover approximately one fifth of the Earth and exist on every continent. Deserts generally have high temperatures and low levels of humidity and precipitation. Deserts are home to a variety of plants and animals that have adapted to their extreme environments. There are four types of desert: coastal, cold, semi-arid and dry.

Desert Temperatures
- In dry deserts, the temperature varies between 20 to 25 degrees Celsius on average, though it can be as hot as 49 degrees Celsius. Semi-arid deserts can average between 20 and 27 degrees Celsius. Cold deserts have winter temperatures averaging around 3 degrees Celsius, with summer temperatures as warm as 26 degrees Celsius. Coastal deserts are characterized by cool winters with temperatures averaging less than 5 degrees Celsius and hot summers with temperatures averaging between 13 and 24 degrees Celsius.
Desert Precipitation
- Coastal deserts can experience as much as 37 cm of rainfall in a year, but the average is close to 10 cm. Cold deserts receive both snowfall in the winter and rainfall during other seasons, with a combined average of about 20 cm of precipitation each year. Semi-arid deserts have dry summers and more precipitous winters; an average of 3 cm of rain each year falls during the winter. Dry deserts usually experience the most varying amount of precipitation; some deserts average 1.5 cm each year, but in American deserts the rainfall is considerably more -- an average of 28 cm per year.
Desert Animals
- Because deserts usually do not have sufficient vegetation to shelter large animals from the harsh sun, the majority of desert animals are small and are predominantly reptiles and insects. The kangaroo rat lives in dry deserts, and copes with the heat by digging deep burrows in the sand. The horned lizard can be found on the continents of America, Africa and Australia. It conceals itself from predators by blending in -- its colors are gray, tan and brown. Snakes live in every type of desert; the Mojave rattlesnake lives in deserts throughout North America. It usually seeks shelter in the low-lying scrub brush and eats small rodents.
Desert Plants
- Cacti thrive in the sandy desert soil and relatively low humidity. They cope with the dry conditions by storing water in their stems. They can withstand both cool and hot temperatures. Spurge, a perennial, is a dense, ground-covering plant that blooms each year. Spurge, cacti and other desert plants often are covered with small pins or spines instead of leaves. This characteristic helps desert plants conserve water; the greater the surface area of the leaf, the more moisture it needs to stay healthy.

Nature