A temperate zone is a region of the Earth located between either the Tropic of Cancer and the Arctic Circle or the Tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic Circle. Furthermore, within these regions, an area is generally required to have between four to eight months out of the year at temperatures averaging more than 50° Fahrenheit (10° Celsius). Of course, there are plenty of areas within these enormous zones where the temperature requirement is not met, and these may or may not be considered part of the temperate zone, depending on the strictness of the definition used.

Within the temperate zone there are two main classifications: the continental temperate zone and the oceanic temperate zone. The continental temperate zone is, in fact, not very temperate for much of the year. Eastern Europe, for example, largely falls within the continental temperate zone, and is marked by extremely cold winters. At the same time, the region experiences fairly hot winters, allowing it to meet the four month average temperate temperature range requirement to be considered a temperate zone. There are no true continental temperate zones in the Southern temperate zone, because there are no masses of land large enough in the Southern Hemisphere to create such temperature swings. Further, regions in the continental temperate zone generally do not receive much precipitation, on average receiving less than 30 inches (75cm) of rain a year, although they may experience thunderstorms.

The other main classification, which is more easily seen as temperate, is the oceanic temperate zone. In this zone it is very rare for the temperature to ever drop below freezing, at 32° Fahrenheit (0° Celsius), even in the dead of winter. However, the oceanic temperate zone often experiences severe storms, receiving a great deal of annual precipitation, often as much as five to ten times as much as in a continental zone. In addition, the meeting of warm air and cold air to create the polar front also generates cyclones in the oceanic temperate zone, which can cause massive destruction during their season.

The oceanic temperate zone doesn’t see anywhere near the temperature swings that the continental zone sees. During the summers temperatures remain relatively temperate, only occasionally rising far above 70° Fahrenheit (21° Celsius). Similarly, in the majority of oceanic zones even during the winter the temperature doesn’t drop far below 40° Fahrenheit (4° Celsius).

Surprisingly little land mass falls within the Southern temperate zone that runs between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic Circle, or roughly 23.5° South and 66.6° South. New Zealand, part of Australia, part of Oceania, the southernmost tip of Africa, and the very south of South America are all that are encompassed by the zone, which as a result contains a fraction of the population of the Northern temperate zone. Indeed, the Northern temperate zone contains the majority of the world’s population, with the United States, most of China, part of India, much of Canada, nearly all of Europe, and a great deal of Russia all falling within this zone.