Subarctic and Taiga Climate Zones

The subarctic climate (Köppen Dfc and, in its most extreme continental interior form, Dwc and Dwd, where "w" denotes a pronounced dry winter) occupies a broad belt across the high mid-latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, roughly between 50 and 70 degrees, immediately south of the tundra and north of the humid continental zone; because the Southern Hemisphere lacks comparably positioned landmasses at these latitudes, subarctic climate is essentially absent there. Defined by having at least one month averaging above 10°C but fewer than four months doing so, and typically a bitterly cold winter with at least one month averaging below -3°C by the traditional Köppen threshold, subarctic regions register some of the largest annual temperature ranges recorded anywhere on Earth: Verkhoyansk and Oymyakon, in the Sakha Republic of Russian Siberia, have both recorded winter temperatures below -60°C, with Oymyakon holding a widely cited record low of -67.7°C in 1933, while the same locations can see summer highs above 30°C, giving an annual range exceeding 90°C.