Climate in the taiga is cold, with average annual temperatures from about +5° to -5° C. I always find it interesting to note that one location with a coniferous forest, Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, has an average annual temperature of only 1° C! Precipitation varies, from about 20 cm of precipitation per year to over 200 cm. Much of the precipitation, of course, is in the form of snow. The winters are cold and long; summers are relatively short and cool. With snowmelt and low temperatures, there is little evaporation in the summer, so the ground is usually very moist during the growing season. Add to the availability of water the fact that the short summer has extremely long day length at the northerly latitudes and you have a situation for explosive plant growth in the summer. Still the growing season is short, usually less than 3 months.