No expert here but I do know that one of the driest places on Earth (in northern Chile) is west of the Andes and that there are lush forested areas just east of the Andes in Argentina - while just east of these forests the land is dry. I suppose there could be other smaller mountain ranges at work here though. The way I always saw it is that wind itself is a drying force and mountains block the wind so areas blocked from the wind would not be as dry.
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