What does this passage mainly 1 point discuss? *
Precipitation, commonly referred to as rainfall, is a measure of the quantity of water in the
form of either rain, hail, or snow which reaches the ground. The average annual precipitation
over the whole of the United States is thirty-six inches. It should be understood however,
that a foot of snow is not equal to a foot of precipitation A general formula for computing
the precipitation of snowfall is that ten inches of snow is equal to one inch of precipitation.
In New York State, for example, twenty inches of snow in one year would be recorded as
only two inches of precipitation. Forty inches of rain would be recorded as forty inches of
precipitation. The total annual precipitation would be recorded as forty-two inches. The
amount of precipitation is a combined result of several factors, including location, altitude,
proximity to the sea, and the direction of prevailing winds. Most of the precipitation in
the United States is brought originally by prevailing winds from the Pacific Ocean, the Gulf
of Mexico , the Atlantic Ocean, and the great Lakes Because these prevailing winds
generally come from the West, the Pacific Coast receives more annual precipitation than the
Atlantic Coast. Along the Pacific Coast itself, however, altitude causes some diversity in
rainfallſ The mountain ranges of the United States, especially the Rocky Mountain Range and
the Appalachian Mountain Range, influence the amount of precipitation in their areas. East
of the Rocky Mountains, the annual precipitation decreases substantially from the west of
the Rocky Mountains, the precipitation north of the Appalachian Mountains is about 70
percent less than that south of the Appalachian Mountains
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