Climate of Rhovanion

[R.]

Basically my question is would't the climate of Rhovanion be more arid. The win blows from the west the Misty Mountains block the moisture . Any opinions or thoughts would be appreciated thanks very much.

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Well and it actually is beyond the Mirkwood. The lands east of Mirkwood are basically a steppe, where the northern parts are possibly a bit more lifeless (but that is also due to the local fauna, like... Dragons ). I guess Mirkwood is such a big piece of forest that it holds the moisture, especially taking into account the fact that the waters from the Grey Mountains likely descend there. I think Southern Mirkwood, funnily enough, might be somewhat closer to Mediterranean-type forests (minus the sea factor). Then, once again taking into account "unnatural" factor, just south of Mirkwood there used to be the Entwives' gardens, so... a "cultivated" land in the best sense of the word, so I guess originally they would have supplied their country with water by some ingenious yet "nature-friendly" means, which may have in turn reflected even on the neighbouring places, like Southern Mirkwood. Just for the record, before somebody voices it, personally I don't think the Wood-Elves would be tampering with the climate (they are not of that sort of folk to do that). But anyway, it may be also worth considering that there is Anduin and lake Rhun and if there were winds coming towards the mountains also from the East (we don't know exactly how the atmospheric currents worked in M-E, but the "East Wind" seems to have been important in Rhovanion, at least the Dwarves basically sing about it in Beorn's house, describing the route of some air currents ), then there will be water coming down also on the western side (mostly Anduin Vales, though - that explains the Great River just next to the Mountains).

But generally, perhaps Rhovanion beyond Misty Mountains = similar to Siberia beyond Ural? And now I don't have a map at hand, so I cannot even check how would the distances from the Sea differ there, but it comes to me as one similar thing.

[R.]

Wow some very good points. Thanks for the very intelligent post. I wasn't sure about the east wind the sea of ruhn was huge and good point about the forest holding moisture and all the rivers coming from the mountains. I look forward to more opinions. Thanks alot.

[The Might]

I am no expert, so I will quote from Mrs. Fonstadt's Atlas of Middle-earth:

East of the Misty Mountains the moderating marine influence was lost. As Aragorn said during the boat trip south: "[We] are far from the sea. Here the world is cold until the sudden spring." Even in Rohan there was snow cover from November to March in the Long Winter, although it was normally mild, as Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli found it in late February. Mountains often produce steppe, or even desert, climates on their leeward sides; yet this was not the case of either the Misty or White Mountains. The grasslands of Rohan could have resulted from this rain-shadow effect, but east of the Misty Mountains lay widespread forests — perhaps due to less evaporation in the cooler air of the north.

Mid-latitude climates are the battlefield between cold polar and warm tropical air masses, producing a belt of cyclones that move from west to east across the lands. With these go the familiar fronts: Cold Fronts, with associated thunderstorms and driving rain; Warm Fronts, with gentle warm summer rains; and Occluded Fronts, with all-day winter drizzles.

On the climate map Rhovanion fits the second quote, being partly in the cold winter, mild summer and partly in the cold winter, warm summer area. The line dividing them goes from the souther tip of the Sea of Rhun to the High Pass.

I can well relate to this climate area, since I come from Romania. This is the typical South-Eastern European climate - with cold winters, with cold winds blowing from Russia, in Rhovanion's case from the north and east.
In summer however it can get quite warm.

[Tuor in Gondolin]

Interesting the Might cites his homeland of Romania, since i was about to post that since JRRT saw the Shire as being in the area of England, that would make Rhovanion in the latitude of France/Romania/the Black Sea, indicating a fairly moderate climate, and also, while a steppe, one considerably shielded from extremes by Mirkwood, the Misty Mountains, and northern Mordor.

While elves might not engage in large scale irrigation, wouldn't men?
Perhaps advised and helped by the entwives. And, as in the middle east and central Asia when peoples like the Mongols invaded, Easterlings might have destroyed them or not tended them properly, leading to some desertification.

[onewhitetree]

I tend to think of the weather in ME as more of a literary device, and less as the result of scientific probability. The Silmarillion describes a general change in the climate and weather patterns toward the end of the Numenorean glory days. As the culture of the island became deceived by Sauron into worship of Morgoth, Tolkien wrote that the weather became less orderly, so to speak. Up until that point, it rained when crops were thirsty, there was a breeze when the summer sun became hot, and winters certainly came once a year, but were not over-harsh. Once the hearts of Men had turned away from their noble heritage, powerful storms arose, climates changed for the worse, and great earthquakes changed the landscape. Al Gore would have been devastated.

Think of all the instances where weather is described: the idyllic sunshine of the Shire, the sorcerous storm at Caradhras, the noxious black clouds of Mordor, etc. These are all effective plot devices that allow the reader to discern nuances in the story. Even at the very start of the Second Age, the cornerstones of the climate/natural world, the Sun and Moon, are established as powerful symbols of the struggle between Good and Evil.

The symbolism here isn't limited to one-off occurrences like storms when Saruman is angry and volcanic explosions when Sauron's in the kitchen. It is embedded in the fabric of ME. The Shire, Rohan, Lothlorien - these are wholesome places, and Tolkien describes this not in matter-of-fact statements but in the weaving of many subtle elements that create the idea of wholesomeness in the reader's mind.