with two eastwards-flowing creeks, bounded to the south by a higher plateau leading to Madrid, and to the west and north by more hilly terrain, which separates the area from the watershed of the Manzanares River. General elevation of the township is around 680 m, with a highest elevation within the municipality's borders of 730 m. The terrain rises towards the foothills of the Guadarrama range to the north and northwest, reaching elevations in excess of 800 m across the border in Colmenar Viejo. Within the urban area the terrain is gently undulating. It also an enormous new phase where there has been construction of new houses for new people for a long time. This new part of Tres Cantos is going to be named the Third Phase and is only composed of modern buildings and new houses for the city to expand. The climate of Tres Cantos is typical for continental Spain. Summers are warm, with maximum temperatures of 33 °C which can sometimes reach the 39 °C. Night temperatures are more pleasant, because they decrease till 20 °C. There are cold winters, with minimum temperatures of 0 °C and below, and maximum temperatures of around 9 °C. Due to its geographical location, 22 kilometers from the capital, with its altitude and proximity to the mountains, the annual average precipitation is greater than in Madrid (above 500 mm). Demographics In 2004 the residential population of Tres Cantos was 38,882 according to National Institute of Statistics (Instituto Nacional de Estadística, or INE) figures; however later estimates put the figure at around 45,000. Population growth has been in decline since the peak of the initial influx of residents in the early 1990s, however future plans for expansion are designed to cater for an eventual population of around 60,000. A feature of Tres Cantos' demographic profile is the large proportion of young professionals (aged 45 and under) with children, compared to Madrid and the national average. This population structure reflects the nucleus of those who left the crowded confines of Madrid to settle in the new community of Tres Cantos in the 1980s and 1990s, resulting in a predominance of young, double-income and home-owning families of 2 to 3 children. Some 40% of the town's population are under 20 (almost double the national average), and less than 6% are over the age of 65 (considerably less than half the national average). The