Prax gets about about 47 cm of precipitation (41 cm as rain, 55 cm as snow), with most of that falling in Storm and Sea Seasons. After Sea Season, Prax usually gets NO precipitation of any sort until Earth Season, and really only a trickle until snow falls in Dark Season. On average precipitation falls about 42 days out of 294, or about 1 day in 7.
That’s pretty comparable to the Badlands of South Dakota (actually a little more than the Badlands get). But combine that with poor soil, and it is too little for agriculture (except where rivers provide water year-round or at oases). It does mean that in late Sea Season, it can look deceptively green.
41 +55 = 47? As a general rule around 10 cm of snow contains about as much water as 1 cm of rain.
The Dead Place is a salt flat. It has several seasonal streams flowing into it. When it does get rain, it gets the same thing as in real world salt flats – a weird looking temporary lake.
The Genert Wastes get maybe half as much precipitation- maybe 23 cm annually, which is comparable to the Great Basin or the Sonoran Desert. There are stretches of grassland even there but it does make Prax look lush.
Can bison be ridden in real life? I’ve been to rodeos where that is an event.
