Weather Words - X | Weather | WGNTV.com | WGN TV

Weather Words - X

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Xenon: An inert gas, heavy and colorless, and one of several trace components of the atmosphere; found in the atmosphere to the extent of only 0.0000087 percent by volume. Xenon has a molecular weight of 131.3.

Xeric: (1) Pertaining to an organism that requires little moisture or to a habitat containing little moisture; very dry environmental conditions, such as in a desert. (2) Pertaining to dry or parched environmental conditions.

Xeriscape: Creative landscaping for water and energy efficiency and low maintenance. It employs six principles: planning and design; soil improvement; mulching; practical lawn areas; efficient irrigation; and low water-demand or other appropriate plants.

Xeriscaping: A method of landscaping that uses plants that are well adapted to the local area and are drought-resistant. Xeriscaping is becoming more popular as a way of saving water at home.

Xero-: A prefix meaning dry, as in xerophtye (a plant adapted for survival and growth in very dry conditions).

Xerochore: A region of extreme dryness; collectively, the desert areas of the Earth.

Xeroderma pigmentosum: A genetic disease with extreme sun sensitivity and many skin cancers at an early age due to the defective repair of DNA damage from the ultraviolet light component of sunlight.

Xerophilous: Growing in or adapted to survival in very dry conditions, especially dry and hot regions such as deserts.

Xerophobia: The irrational or morbid fear of dryness.