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Description: |
The alpine occurs at
high elevations throughout British Columbia and
has the harshest climate of any of the biogeoclimatic
zones in British Columbia. Temperatures are cold
for most of the year, with much wind and snow. Temperatures
remain low even during the growing season, which
has an exceptionally short frost-free period. Mean
annual temperatures range from 0° to 4°C, and the
average monthly temperature stays below 0°C from
7 to 11 months of the year. The mean temperature
of the warmest month is less than 10°C. A great
deal of precipitation falls in this zone, mostly
as snow. The Boreal Altai Fescue Alpine Zone (BAFA)
is the most extensive of the alpine zones, occupying
the northern Rocky, Skeena, Omineca, and Cassiar
Mountains in the north and the lee side of the Coast
Mountains as far south as the Chilcotin.
Winters are very cold and long, and summers are
brief and cool but with very long day length. A
thin windblown snowpack is typical of the Boreal
Altai Fescue Alpine Zone but deeper snowpacks occur
in some areas. Ground freezing and cryoturbation
(frost churning) features are common. Much of the
Boreal Altai Fescue Alpine Zone is well-vegetated
alpine tundra.
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