Most people live in the temperate zone, yet temperate covers wildly different weather
Temperate sounds mild, but the label stretches from the humid summers of southern China to the chilly, wind-blown Faroe Islands. Officially it covers the latitudes between the tropics and the polar circles. Most of humanity lives inside it, largely because the Northern Hemisphere has so much land there and so few extremes.
Geographers place the temperate zones between roughly 23.5 and 66.5 degrees north and south, from the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn to the Arctic and Antarctic Circles. Unlike the tropics, where seasons differ mostly in rainfall, these latitudes swing noticeably in temperature through the year. Ocean currents, prevailing winds, altitude and the size of the nearest landmass all tweak the result. Köppen's scheme calls a climate temperate when the coldest month averages between minus 3 and 18 °C, though some versions set the lower limit at freezing.
Closer to the equator, between about 23.5 and 35 degrees, subtropical types rule. Humid subtropical regions, such as the Pampas, northern Vietnam and the southeastern United States, get long steamy summers and mild winters. In parts of southern China, the monsoon version delivers over 80 percent of yearly rain in the five warmest months. Mediterranean climates flip the pattern with dry summers and wet winters, found in five main regions: the Mediterranean basin, coastal California, southern and western Australia, South Africa's Western Cape and central Chile.
Farther poleward, oceanic climates form where cool seas push onshore, giving cloudy weather, gentle summers and winters that are cool rather than cold, as in northwestern Europe and most of New Zealand. Humid continental climates arise over big landmasses and bring hot summers and harsh winters, from southeastern Canada to Korea and Japan. At the cold edge, subpolar oceanic places such as the Faroes and Lofoten rarely pass 20 °C even in midsummer. El Alto in Bolivia is one of very few confirmed cities with a cold subtropical highland climate.
Life thrives here. The largest described number of taxa in any temperate region, some 24,000 species and subspecies, is found in southern Africa. Farming is extensive because rain is plentiful and summers warm, while winters matter little since most crops grow in spring and summer. The big exception is an unusually extreme season, which can hit harvests hard.
Source: Temperate climate
