Despite what there location may suggest, they are not cold deserts like Antartica.
While they are not connected to any other continent through land, they somehow lack the cold circumpolar currents that make Antartica the wasteland it is. While the temperature is at below freezing point during particularly cold nights and way below in winter, it is much more bearable. There normal average temperature is around 10°C in summer during day but sharp decline at night, making it much more habitable with some forest and grassland in their coastal areas that have adapted to lack of sunlight for six months and permanent snow sheets covering the center.
____________
Author's Note
This is not canon but I am making it so.