Tundra+Abiotic+Factors

ABIOTIC FACTORS

It's cold through all months of the year, summer is a brief period of milder climates when the sun shines almost 24 hours a day. 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. Bitter cold winds always whip across the landscape. Winter temperatures don't reach above 20° F and average -20° to -30°F. Endless hours darkness settle in and the winds blow even harder. The snow that falls is blown off the high plateaus and collects in the valleys. 

The tundra is an unusually cold and dry climate. Precipitation totals less than 5 inches of rain a year, which includes melted snow. This is almost as little as the world's driest deserts. 

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 * __Permafrost: __**  known as permafrost, the tundra has a layer of frozen subsoil located beneath the surface. The warmer weather causes a layer of permafrost to melt, creating bogs and shallow lakes that don't drain. They breed stinging insects, which make life even in the summer miserable for the inhabitants of the tundra.