The next thing people will say is: mountains. The US West has tons of them! See map
Mountains stop rain, and the US West is mountainous, so that's why rain doesn't make it farther, right?
Wrong!
Look at California's Sierra Nevada. The western slopes of the mountains are GREEN! They CATCH the rains
Why doesn't this happen in the middle of the US?
Well, it does! In the middle of that nothingness, what do we find? Denver, in Colorado!
Why?
Because it's at the feet of some of the tallest mountains in the US, which catch water from the air—hence its snows
Then why aren't all these mountains much greener?
Because the water that falls in Denver comes from the Pacific, not the east
This animation holds the answer:
You'll notice that there are 2 forces of rain fighting on the continent:
• In winter, the US Northeast gets massive amounts of rain
• In summer, rains come from the southeast
Why?
The strongest Pacific winds are in the north. In California, they barely blow. Why?
Because of the size and rotation of the Earth! They blow westward at the equator and eastwards at the level of the US
The inversion happens around California➡️weak winds there
This is striking in South America:
• Equatorial winds create the Amazon Rainforest
• That makes the Andes super dry
• The inversion happens around Chile / Argentina
So the predominant winds in the US come from the Pacific, loaded with humidity, and they drop it in the mountains: the Sierra Nevada and the Rockies. That's why:
• The Pacific Northwest is so populated (Seattle, Portland): They get massive rains
• California's coast is sunny as it doesn't get direct rain, but the mountains catch the water, which flows to the coast
By the time these winds make it to the middle of the US, they are very dry. The Rockies catch the last amount of moisture (hence Salt Lake City & Denver) and nothing is left east of that
BUT in summer rains don't come from here!
In summer:
• The strong winds from the Pacific move north
• The Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico get very warm, so they load the sea with moisture
• Land gets even warmer faster, so air goes up (hot water is lighter), and the somewhat cooler air from the Gulf of Mexico rushes in
This moisture-filled air then drops its load on land, causing the rain we know. That's why the coast from Houston to Miami gets so much rain: It's like a monsoon! And this air only makes it as far as we've seen—the middle of the US
The farther from the coast, the less water, and the less population!
All this also explains why Boston gets more snow than Chicago, why the US has a world record in hurricanes and tornadoes, and much more!
I'm publishing much more about this next week. Follow me to see it! @tomaspueyo
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Did you know the West's trade deficits to China are not recent, but started 2000 years ago? This is the story of how silk, porcelain, tea, opium, and silver have determined the history of the world 🧵
The Romans already complained about deficits to China! Mainly because of silk
Back then the Chinese already preferred manufacturing and selling products than consuming foreign products. Chronicler Solinus ~200 AD: The Chinese "prefer only to sell their products, but do not like to buy our goods."
Why did 🇮🇱Israel strike 🇮🇷Iran now, and not months or years ago or in the future?
A unique combination of a dozen factors converged to make the moment unique for 🇮🇱Israel: 🧵 1. No Hamas to its southwest 2. No Hezbollah to its north 3. No Assad threat to the northeast
4...
4. No more Syrian army to attack 🇮🇱Israel's planes: As the new forces of HTS took over Syria, Israel bombed all the existing Syrian military. No more fighter jets or surface-to-air missiles to threaten 🇮🇱Israel
5. Ability to fly over Syria to refuel
This is critical, because 🇮🇷Iran is ~600-1000 miles away from 🇮🇱Israel, so 1200-2000 miles round trip
The range of Israel’s stealth F35 is only about 1,350 mi
To operate inside 🇮🇷Iran, 🇮🇱Israel needed refueling over Syria
1. From Feb 2025 to Jun 2025, it increased its amount of enriched uranium by 50% 2. It now had 400kg of highly enriched uranium, enough for 9-10 bombs 3. This is 60% enriched uranium. Fuel only requires 5% enrichment.
4... 🧵
4. It's easy to go from 60% to 90% (weapons grade), it only takes weeks 5. The only country on Earth with such enriched uranium and without a bomb is 🇮🇷Iran 6. The IAEA (nuclear watchdog) found 3 secret nuclear sites
7. When 🇮🇷Iran didn't respond to this accusation, the IAEA censured it 8. 🇮🇷Iran responded to the censoring by saying it would open a 3rd enrichment site in a secret spot
Now that the 🇺🇸US has bombed 3 of 🇮🇷Iran's nuclear sites, where will the war go from here?
It depends on 🇮🇱Israel: 🧵
🇮🇷Iran never wanted the war, and its forces are being decimated. Its ability to send missiles to 🇮🇱Israel is being degraded every day. If it could sign a ceasefire while saving face, it would
Meanwhile, 🇮🇱Israel has kept striking Iran non stop. Its daily airstrikes didn't go down substantially in the first few days. Its ability to keep striking 🇮🇷Iran remains unabated
Can there be an invasion of Iran? Hardly. Two maps explain why, and also why Iran is the way it is today, whether its regime will fall, what other superpowers will do, and in general why Iran is the way it is today
The only truly exposed area is the southwestern corner of Khuzestan, which is a swamp
The biggest superpowers lie to the west, and there the very broad Zagros make it really hard to conquer Iran. The mountain range is tall and wide, making logistics similar to Afghanistan. Very hard.
Iraq learned it the hard way when it tried to attack there in 1980
Listening to the debate, it looks like 🇮🇱Israel & the 🇺🇸US intelligence community disagreed, but that's not really the case!
Both thought Iran was weeks to months away from being able to develop the bomb
So what's the disagreement?
Here are more facts:
• Tehran had just announced a 3rd enrichment site in an undisclosed place
• The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had recently produced a report censoring Iran for the 1st time in 20y
• It accused Iran of 3 undisclosed nuclear sites
• It claimed Iran had enough enriched uranium for 9-10 nuclear bombs
• All the other countries in the world who have enriched uranium at the same level also have nuclear weapons. Iran is the only country that doesn't have these weapons yet enriches uranium as much