The French league had different values at different times: 10 000, 12 000, 13 200 and 14 400 French feet, about 3.25 km to about 4.68 km. It was used for a while together with the metric system but it is not used now. The nautical league was three nautical miles.
Why does precipitation fall mainly on the windward side of a mountain? When humid winds blow from the oceans toward mountains they must rise up to pass over the mountains. The rising warm air cools when it rises and its water vapor condenses, forming clouds rain or snow falls on the windward side of the mountain. microclimate Climate within a small area that differs significantly from the climate of the surrounding area
note that this thin surface layer is trade-wind controlled, and transport in the layer can be significantly different in rate and direction than the rest of the water column. Precipitation patterns on West Maui result primarily from orographic uplift of air masses driven by the northeast trade winds. Due to orographic effects associated with the high (> 1400 meters) West Maui shield volcano, most of the precipitation (100-400 centimeters/year) falls on the northern face of the volcano while the south and southwest sides of the volcano receive less than 40 centimeters/year on average (Fletcher and others, 2002).