Geography and Climate
Baotou is located in the west of Inner Mongolia, located at the junction of two economic zones: the Bohai Economic Rim and the Upper Yellow River Natural Resources Enrichment Zone (黄河上游资源富集区). Its administrative area borders Mongolia to the north, while the Yellow River, which flows for 214 kilometres (133 mi) in the prefecture, is south of the urban area itself. The Tumochuan Plateau (土默川平原), Hetao Plateau, and Yin Mountains cross the urban area and central part of the prefecture. Baotou City ranges in latitude from 41° 20' to 42° 40' N and in longitude from 109° 50' to 111° 25' E.
Baotou features a cold semi-arid climate (Köppen BSk), marked by long, cold and very dry winters, hot, somewhat humid summers, and strong winds, especially in spring. Temperatures often fall below −15 °C (5 °F) in winter and rise above 30 °C (86 °F) in summer. The annual precipitation is approximately 300 millimetres (11.8 in), with more than half of it falling in July and August alone. Due to the aridity and elevation, temperature differences between day and night can be large, especially in spring. In 2002, there were 12 instances of dust storms.
| Climate data for Baotou (1971−2000) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | −4.1 (24.6) |
0.4 (32.7) |
7.6 (45.7) |
16.9 (62.4) |
23.9 (75.0) |
28.2 (82.8) |
29.6 (85.3) |
27.1 (80.8) |
22.1 (71.8) |
14.8 (58.6) |
5.2 (41.4) |
−2.3 (27.9) |
14.12 (57.41) |
| Average low °C (°F) | −16.8 (1.8) |
−12.7 (9.1) |
−5.6 (21.9) |
2.0 (35.6) |
8.7 (47.7) |
13.6 (56.5) |
17.1 (62.8) |
15.3 (59.5) |
8.7 (47.7) |
1.3 (34.3) |
−7.2 (19.0) |
−14.3 (6.3) |
0.84 (33.52) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 2.1 (0.083) |
3.8 (0.15) |
8.3 (0.327) |
8.1 (0.319) |
17.3 (0.681) |
28.0 (1.102) |
81.3 (3.201) |
87.7 (3.453) |
38.7 (1.524) |
17.1 (0.673) |
3.8 (0.15) |
1.4 (0.055) |
297.6 (11.717) |
| Avg. precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 1.4 | 2.2 | 2.9 | 3.0 | 4.7 | 7.0 | 10.5 | 10.7 | 6.9 | 3.8 | 1.7 | 1.5 | 56.3 |
| Source: Weather China | |||||||||||||
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