Chile spans a very long north-south range and crosses the Atacama Desert, the Mediterranean central valley, the wet south, and high Andean cold zones, so residents experience some of the widest climate contrasts in South America. Continental Chile is broadly classified into arid, temperate, and polar climates under Köppen-Geiger analysis, with temperate climates covering the largest share and arid conditions dominating the north. For expats, the most comfortable population centers are usually in the central belt, where summers are warm and dry and winters are mild to cool, while the far north is extremely dry and the far south is cool, windy, and much wetter.