Geography of Europe

Mountain ranges
Some of Europe’s major mountain ranges are:

* Ural Mountains, used to separate Europe and Asia
* Caucasus Mountains, which also separate Europe and Asia, and is the namesake of the Caucasian race
* Carpathian Mountains, a major mountain range in Central and Southern Europe
* Alps, the famous mountains known for their spectacular slopes
* Apennines, which run through Italy
* Pyrenees, the natural border between France and Spain
* Cantabrian Mountains, which run across northern Spain
* Scandinavian Mountains, a mountain range which runs through the Scandinavian Peninsula, includes the Kjølen mountains
* Dinaric Alps, a mountain range in the Balkans
* Balkan mountains, a mountain range in central Balkans
* Scottish highlands ( cairngorms, a ‘low level’ mountain range, in northern and central Scotland.
* pennines, very low level mountain range, subject to extreme glacial sculpting, in earlier ice ages, found in northern England.

Temperature and Precipitation
The high mountainous areas of Europe are colder and have higher precipitation than lower areas, as is true of mountainous areas in general. Europe has less precipitation in the east than in central and Western Europe. The temperature difference between summer and winter gradually increases from coastal northwest Europe to southeast inland Europe, ranging from Ireland, with a temperature difference of only 10 °C from the warmest to the coldest month, to the area north of the Caspian Sea, with a temperature difference of 40 °C. January average range from 13°C in Southern Greece to -20°C in northeastern part of European Russia.
Western Europe and parts of Central Europe generally fall into the temperate maritime climate (Cfb), the southern part is mostly a Mediterranean climate (mostly Csa, smaller area with Csb), the north-central part and east into central Russia is mostly a humid continental climate (Dfb) and the northern part of the continent is a subarctic climate (Dfc). In the extreme northern part (northernmost Russia; Svalbard), bordering the Arctic Ocean, is tundra climate (Et). Mountain ranges, such as the Alps and the Carpathian mountains, have a highland climate with large variations according to altitude and latitude.