Polar climate

The polar climate regions are characterized by a lack of warm summers but with varying winters. Every month a polar climate has an average temperature of less than 10 °C (50 °F). Regions with a polar climate cover more than 20% of the Earth's area. Most of these regions are far from the equator and near the poles, and in this case, winter days are extremely short and summer days are extremely long (they could last for the entirety of each season or longer). A polar climate consists of cool summers and very cold winters (or, in the case of ice cap climates, no real summer at all), which results in treeless tundras, glaciers, or a permanent or semi-permanent layer of ice. It is identified with the letter E in the Köppen climate classification.