The Mohave Desert is one of the USAs most popular tourist areas. It contains Death Valley and the Grand Canyon. Due to the surrounding mountains the desert is in rainshadow and receives less than 6 inches of rain.

The Mojave is a desert of temperature extremes and four distinct seasons. Winter months bring temperatures dipping to below -7 °C on valley floors, and below -18 °C at higher elevations. Storms moving from the Pacific Northwest can bring rain and snow across the region — more often, the rain shadow created by the Sierra Nevada as well as mountain ranges within the desert such as the Spring Mountains bring only clouds and wind. In longer periods between storm systems, winter temperatures in valleys can approach 27 °C.