An impressive part of Europe lives in a temperate continental climate. Its uniqueness is in the presence of only one hemisphere - the Northern. What features distinguish the temperate continental type of climate? What animals and plants are characteristic of it? Understanding this is not difficult at all.
Main Features
Temperate continental climate is located only in the Northern Hemisphere. It is characteristic of both the Cordillera region and Central Europe. The temperate continental climate of Russia is manifested in Yakutia, the Magadan region, in Siberia and Transbaikalia. Moving inland, the air loses moisture, making the climate more severe. Therefore, the more distant the location of the region from the sea or ocean, the more continental climate will manifest itself.
Winter months
The temperate continental climate is characterized by pronounced seasonality. The main seasons - summer and winter - should be considered separately. During the cold season, the earth's surface and atmosphere cool down,leading to the Asian High. It spreads to Siberia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia, and sometimes reaches southeastern Europe. As a result, a severe winter occurs with strong air fluctuations within just a few days, when the thaw abruptly turns into frost down to minus thirty. Precipitation falls in the form of snow, which persists in areas east of Warsaw. The maximum height of the cover can reach ninety centimeters - such snowdrifts are found in Western Siberia. A large amount of snow protects the soil from freezing and provides it with moisture when spring comes.
Summer months
The temperate continental climate of Russia and Eastern Europe is characterized by a fairly rapid onset of summer. The increasing amount of solar heat warms the air masses coming to the mainland from the ocean. Average monthly temperatures in July are just under twenty degrees. The annual amount of precipitation, most of which falls precisely in the summer, in these regions is from three hundred to eight hundred millimeters. The number changes only on the slopes of the Alps. There can be more than two thousand millimeters of precipitation. It is worth noting the decrease in their number in the direction from west to east. In North America, the situation is inversely proportional. In Asian temperate regions, evaporation exceeds natural precipitation and droughts can occur.
Features of vegetation
Temperate continental climate characterized by deciduous forests. They consist of two tiers - trees and shrubs. The herbaceous cover is distinguished by a greater number of species than other flora variants. In addition, it is also divided into several tiers. The tree of the deciduous forest is distinguished by branching with a dense crown. The seasons are not conducive to year-round vegetation. In winter, the trees shed their leaves - simple, serrated or lobed, thin and unable to tolerate either drought or frost. The temperate continental climate of the temperate zone can be distinguished by both wide- and small-leaved species. The former include ash, maple, oak, linden, and elm. The second - aspen, alder and birch.
In addition, the forest can be divided into such types as monodominant and polydominant. The first are typical for Europe - a specific species prevails there. The latter are found in Asia, North America and Chile: the forest consists of many different species. In warm areas, among deciduous trees, there are evergreen species, as well as vines - grape, legume, honeysuckle or euonymus. Despite the annual fall of leaves, the forests of these zones are characterized by underdeveloped litter: the temperate continental climate contributes to its rapid decomposition. This creates excellent conditions for bacteria and earthworms. At the same time, the layer of foliage becomes an obstacle to moss, which grows in such a forest only at the roots of trees and in places protruding from the soil. The land in this climate is podzolic, brown, carbonate or gley.
Characteristic animals
Fauna of the continentalclimate is located in the forests is very homogeneous. This is a combination of arboreal, terrestrial, herbivorous, carnivorous animals. In the deciduous forest zones there are a lot of amphibians and reptiles - there are twice as many of them as in the tundra. The abundance of light, dense undergrowth, lush grasses become excellent conditions for various animals. Here there are animals that feed on seeds and nuts - rodents, squirrels, numerous birds, such as blackbirds, western nightingales, small robins, great tits, blue tit. In almost every forest you can meet a chaffinch and greenfinches, an oriole, and in remote corners - a wood pigeon. Larger animals are represented by ermines, badgers, wolves, foxes, lynxes and bears. They live throughout Europe and a large area of Asia. In deserted corners there are unique species - wild cats, pine martens, ferrets. There is a large presence of herbivores - red deer, red deer, bison and chamois.
