What Is a High Latitude Climate?
Although there is no specific definition for high latitude climate, these environments typically exist above 60 degrees of latitude. This type of climate is called arctic in the Northern Hemisphere, Antarctic in the Southern Hemisphere, or simply polar.
Climates are impacted by several factors including latitude, elevation and distance to large bodies of water, so differences exist between each high altitude climate. These climates all have short summers and long winters. Because of the full sunlight during the summer, plants grow quickly and migrating wildlife is abundant.
High altitude climates are very dry compared to lower altitude climates. The driest areas are in the ice-covered polar regions. Antarctica, which is the an example of an extreme high latitude climate, is technically a desert.
