The climate of subalpine ecosystems is dominated by very long winters and short growing seasons of 6-9 weeks. Temperatures are cool even during the growing season and frost can occur 12 months of the year. Precipitation ranges from 750 - 1250 mm per year, which falls mostly as snow during the winter. Temperatures average -11.5 to 1.5 C in January and 5.5 to 19.5 C in July, with a mean annual temperature around 4 C. Snow depths often exceed 3 m, but average 2 m by the end of March.

Winds can be high throughout the year and are a major