Climate: Midlatitude, Severe

Severe climates of the midlatitudes include humid continental and subarctic climates. These climate types are typified by harsh winters and large annual temperature ranges due to continentality. Because the climate types are constrained to latitudes between about 40° and 70° within large land areas, they are not found in the Southern Hemisphere, where there is very little land area at these latitudes. They are restricted to Europe, Asia, and North America and include a significant proportion of the global population.

Both the subarctic and the humid continental climate subtypes have no true dry season, receiving precipitation throughout the year. Many places receive more precipitation in the summer than in the winter, usually as a result of local convection or midlatitude cyclones. Winter precipitation arrives mostly as ...