Snowfall ranges from 50 to 70 inches, and annual precipitation ranges from 30 to 32 inches. Generally hilly terrain, dissected by outwash channels. The hills, up to 140 feet high, are moderately to steeply sloping. Both the ground moraine and end moraine are moderately to steeply sloping, but the ground-moraine ridges are generally smaller than those of the end moraine. Many small kettle lakes, typically less than 1 square mile in area, on outwash, end moraine, and ground moraine.
Soils are well drained and excessively drained sands and loamy sands on the uplands.
Sand outwash deposits are common on lower slopes. Most of the outwash soils are poorly drained. White pine was once locally common on the drier upland sites, often growing with white oak in either open forests or savannas. The lowland vegetation also contained elements of both the deciduous hardwood swamp and hardwood-conifer and conifer swamps. Fires were probably important for maintaining the oak-pine and oak forests and savannas.