Can I have a forest in the rain shadow of a mountain range?

I've pretty much finished the map of a world I'm building for a fantasy novel, but I've realised that on one of the continents I need there to be forest on both sides of a large mountain range. I've never made maps/worlds before so have had to research everything from scratch and I didn't really account for rain shadows.

The climate in this area is humid continental. The people living on the right side of the mountain have to some extent used magic to help the forest grow, but I would like the forest to exist naturally rather than have it all be down to magic.

The world is like Earth, only the land masses are different.

Is it realistic for there to be a forest to the right of this mountain range, or would this be in the rain shadow and too dry for a forest? If so, are there any other conditions I could alter to make it work?

I'll include a picture (with my crude climate colouring overlaid, though still unfinished on the other continent): (Some of the lakes are black, because I realised I had too few lakes and rivers and went back to add more.) I've circled the area I'm asking about. I had planned for both sides of this mountain range to have forests, but more so on the east side.

EDIT:

If I add a great lake on the west side and make a deep inlet on the east coast to bring some warm water in to evaporate/make rain, does that help? Kind if like on this map (except I'd try to polish it a bit):

posted almost 5 years ago

Nora R‭

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