A rain shadow is a dry area on the lee back side of a mountainous area. The mountains block the passage of rain-producing weather systems casting a "shadow" of dryness behind them.

As shown by the diagram to the right, the incoming warm and moist air is "pulled" by the prevailing winds towards the top of the mountains where it condenses and precipitates before it crosses the top. The air, without much moisture left, advances behind the mountains creating a dryer side called "rain shadow."

The condition exists because warm moist air rises through "orographic lifting" to the top of a mountain range. Because of decreasing atmospheric pressure with increasing altitude, the air has expanded and adiabatically cooled to the point that the air reaches its adiabatic dew point (which is not the same as its constant pressure dew point commonly reported in weather forecasts). At the adiabatic dew point, moisture condenses onto the mountain and it precipitates on the top and windward sides of the mountain. The air descends on the leeward side, but because of the process of precipitation, it has lost much of its initial moisture. Typically, descending air also gets warmer because of adiabatic compression (see Foehn winds) down the leeward side of the mountain, creating an arid region.

Tigran Hamasyan (born July 17, 1987) is an Armenian jazz pianist. He plays mostly original compositions, which are strongly influenced by the Armenian folk tradition, often using its scales and modalities. In addition to Tigran's folk influence, he is much influenced by American jazz tradition and to some extent, as on his album Red Hail, by progressive rock. His most recent album, entitled A Fable, which is a solo album, is most strongly influenced by Armenian folk music. Even on his most overt jazz compositions and renditions of well-known jazz pieces, his improvisations often contain embellishments based on scales from Middle Eastern/South Western Asian traditions.

As leader

As sideman

Heather Mitchell (born 1958), is an Australian actress, appearing in Australian productions of Stage, television and film. She is a graduate of NIDA (National Institute of Dramatic Art). She is best known as the lead-actress in the 1990s television show – Spellbinder.

Mitchell is well known for her performance as "Ashka" in the Australian/Polish co-productions of Spellbinder, and Spellbinder 2: Land of the Dragon Lord. The series was a popular children's fantasy program first broadcast in 1995.

Other television series include: Five Mile Creek, the miniseries Bodyline (1984), I Can't Get Started (1985), Land Of Hope (1986) as Helen Davies (10 episodes), Embassy and A Country Practice. In 1998, she starred in the miniseries drama The Day of the Roses, in which she played a victim of the 1977 Granville railway disaster.

Mitchell starred in Cody I: A Family Affair (1994), Cody II: Bad Love (1994), Cody III: The Tipoff (1994), Cody VI: The Wrong Stuff (1994).

Films in which she appeared, include: