Sloping alluvial fans at the edges of the basins merge into flat plains in the center. Badlands are typical of the dissected areas along the region's outer edges. Sagebrush basal plain near Big Butte, Idaho. Precipitation is fairly evenly distributed throughout the year, except during the summer months, when there is little rain. The higher overall elevation of the Wyoming Basin gives it slightly lower average temperatures and precipitation than on the plateaus.
Winters are cold, and summers are short and hot.
Moist alkaline flats support alkali-tolerant greasewood. Along streams in and near the mountains where the water is good, valley bottoms are lined with willows and sedges, which give way to greasewood and other alkali-tolerant plants as one moves away from the mountains. A woodland of western juniper covers parts of central Oregon that get little rain. Dry lake beds are numerous, and there are extensive eolian deposits, including both dune sand and loess. Soils in the Wyoming Basin are alkaline Aridisols.