Tundra

The tundra is a bleak and treeless place. It is cold through all months of the year Summer is a brief period of milder climates when the sun shines almost 24 hours a day. It has been called "the land of the midnight sun". But even the sun can't warm the tundra much. The short summer lasts only 6 to 10 weeks. It never gets any warmer than 45 or 50° F. During the long winter months the sun barely rises and it is dark for most of the day.Winter temperatures don't reach above 20° F and average -20° to -30°F.The tundra is an unusually cold and dry climate. Precipitation totals 6-10 inches of rain a year, which includes melted snow. This is almost as little as the world's driest deserts. Coupled with strong and drying winds, the tundra is an extreme weather biome. The tundra seems like a wet and soggy place because the precipitation that falls evaporates slowly, and because of the poor drainage caused by the permafrost.The tundra climate spans from most of Greenland to parts of Alaska, northern Canada, and northern Russia. The latitudinal range is 75° N to 60° N. Tundra climates can be found on the coastal areas of the arctic. The ocean water keeps the climate from falling to the extreme temperatures found in the interior of the continents.