Orographic Control of Precipitation: What are We Learning from MAP?

The first four words of the title of this article match the title of Section 4 of Ron Smith’s (1979) review, “The Influence of Mountains on the Atmosphere”. Via a comprehensive survey of the literature available 25 years ago, Smith identified the key ways in which mountains potentially can affect precipitation. Little has changed regarding his conclusions. However, little factual information was then available to confirm, refute, or assess quantitatively the relative importance of different potential orographic influences on precipitation.