Until about six thousand years ago, northern Africa was relatively wet — dotted with small lakes.
Earth's surface must have been relatively cool and relatively wet at the time.
For example, there is evidence for relatively wet conditions in what is now the Sahara Desert.
For starters, there is the climate — cool and relatively wet for a wine-growing region.
"The apparently sudden shift from dry to relatively wet environments over such a short distance was perplexing," said Myers.
Mr. Phan works wonders with both, using them to support dry "sauces" of mostly solid ingredients, in contrast to the relatively wet pasta dishes one associates with Italy.
But while southern China is relatively wet, the north, home to about half of China's population, is an immense, parched region that now threatens to become the world's biggest desert.
This year, rainfall levels declined drastically in the withering heat of July and August -- after the restrictions were eased following the relatively wet months of April, May and June.
Thickets of small trees and shrubs, often thorny, among which species of Prosopis, Acacia, and Mimosa predominate, cover regions that alternate between dry and relatively wet seasons; those regions particularly include coastal Venezuela, northeastern Colombia, southwestern Ecuador, and northern Peru.
