Hobbies And Interests
Affects on People
Year-round hard winds reaching as high as 100 miles an hour on the tundra bring health risks to any visitors. Frost bite is caused not only by cold temperatures but by strong, cold winds. Chronic hypothermia is the slow reduction of body temperature brought on by cold and exacerbated by cold winds. Exposure to the freezing winds also takes moisture out of the skin and makes breathing hard. Explorers and scientists regularly cover their entire faces when walking outside in the tundra zone during the winter or in summer storms.
Summer Winds
There is abundant life on the tundra in the summer months. The sun shines almost 24 hours a day for a good portion of the summer. Even with the abundant sunshine, the harsh, brisk winds can take the temperatures down in the 40s. Snowstorms are not unusual in the summer, bringing freezing winds with them. The tundra winds make it possible for only the sturdiest of plant and bog life to grow in the lowlands and shores of the tundra during the short, six- to ten-week summer.
Winter Winds
The Northern Hemisphere in winter is tilted away from the sun in the Earth's orbit. The tundra is above the Arctic Circle. For 66 days each winter the sun does not shine on the tundra. The winter winds are even stronger than the summer winds, taking the average temperatures below zero degrees Fahrenheit. When snow storms blow through the tundra, the regular winter winds do not allow it to accumulate as much as other areas. The winter winds blow the snow off the plateaus down in to the valleys. Animals have a harder time surviving against the additional snow and wind.
Alpine Tundra
Tundra exists in places scattered around the world on the high peaks of mountaintops. Alpine tundra is defined as being from the end of the tree line on a mountain to the top of the mountain. Like other areas of tundra, the area is harsh and rocky and has little vegetation. No matter where a mountain range is locate, local weather patterns effect it. Strong storm winds affect mountainous tundra as severely as tundra winds do north of the Arctic Circle. Wind speeds at the top of the mountains can exceed 100 mph, keeping the average temperature far below freezing.