Pyrenees

:For other meanings see: Pyrenees, Victoria and Montes Pyrenaeus.

Climate

The amount of the precipitation, including rain and snow, is much greater in the western than in the eastern Pyrenees, which leads to a marked contrast between these sections of the chain in more than one respect. In the first place, the eastern Pyrenees are without glaciers, the quantity of snow falling there being insufficient to lead to their development. The glaciers are confined to the northern slopes of the central Pyrenees, and do not descend, like those of the Alps, far down in the valleys, but have their greatest length in the direction of the mountain chain. They form, in fact, a narrow zone near the crest of the highest mountains. Here, as in the other great mountain ranges of central Europe, there are evidences of a much wider extension of the glaciers during the Ice age. The case of the glacier in the valley of Argelbs in the département of Hautes-Pyrénées is the best-known instance. The snow-line varies in different parts of the Pyrenees from 2700-2800 m. above sea-level.

Related Topics:
Precipitation - Rain - Snow - Glacier - Ice age - Argelbs

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