An "oceanic climate" (also known as "marine", "west coast" and "maritime") is the climate typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, and generally features cool summers and cool (but not cold) winters, with a relatively narrow annual temperature range and few extremes of temperature, with the exception for transitional areas to continental, subarctic or subtropical climates. Summers below 22 °C (72 °F) and winters above −3 °C (27 °F) in mean temperatures are eligible for the classification, resulting in significant differences of characteristics in terms of how the oceanic climate manifests. As a result, heavy snowfall occur in some northerly oceanic areas, especially in coastal Alaska.