Wales is formed from an exposed mountainous region over 2,000 ft (600 m) in the northwest of the country, encompassing much of what is now Gwynedd, and an upland area of acidic moorland between 600 and 2,000 ft (200 and 600 m), with a coastal strip of flatter but still undulating land. This consists of the Vale of Glamorgan, Monmouthshire, the Welsh Marches, Flintshire and Denbighshire, the coastal plain of North Wales, the island of Anglesey, the coastal plain on Cardigan Bay and Pembrokeshire, and these are the main arable cropping areas. The mild Atlantic climate with predominantly westerly winds give the country a high rainfall; in the uplands there may be 80 in (203 cm) or more, and on the coast 50 in (127 cm).[1]