The Rocky Mountains: America's Climate Engine (with music)

Did you know the Rocky Mountains quietly shape the weather for almost half of the United

States? Stretching 3,000 miles, they act like a giant wall that

redirects storms and creates entire climate zones. When moist Pacific air hits the mountains,

it’s forced upward, cools, and dumps massive amounts of snow on the western slopes.

But once that air crosses the peaks, it sinks warm and dry, creating huge rain

shadows that leave eastern Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana far drier.

The Rockies even help define the 100th Meridian — the historic dry line farmers noticed

in the 1800s when crops thrived on one side and failed on the other. Their snowpack is