Climate
With an elevation of nearly 4,000 metres (13,000 ft), Litang has an alpine subarctic climate (Köppen Dwc), with long, cold, dry winters, and short, cool, rainy summers. The monthly daily mean temperature in January, the coldest month, is −5.8 °C (21.6 °F), while the same figure for July, the warmest month, is only 10.6 °C (51.1 °F); the year averages out at 3.25 °C (37.9 °F). Most of the annual precipitation is delivered from June to September.
| Climate data for Litang (1971−2000) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | 3.5 (38.3) |
5.0 (41.0) |
8.0 (46.4) |
11.0 (51.8) |
15.3 (59.5) |
17.1 (62.8) |
16.8 (62.2) |
16.3 (61.3) |
15.1 (59.2) |
12.3 (54.1) |
7.8 (46.0) |
4.2 (39.6) |
11.0 (51.8) |
| Average low °C (°F) | −13.3 (8.1) |
−10.6 (12.9) |
−6.5 (20.3) |
−2.9 (26.8) |
1.5 (34.7) |
5.4 (41.7) |
6.3 (43.3) |
5.8 (42.4) |
3.9 (39.0) |
−0.8 (30.6) |
−7.5 (18.5) |
−12.7 (9.1) |
−2.6 (27.3) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 1.4 (0.055) |
4.0 (0.157) |
10.1 (0.398) |
21.9 (0.862) |
52.5 (2.067) |
134.4 (5.291) |
185.1 (7.287) |
155.5 (6.122) |
115.2 (4.535) |
34.0 (1.339) |
5.2 (0.205) |
2.9 (0.114) |
722.2 (28.433) |
| % humidity | 40 | 43 | 47 | 54 | 55 | 67 | 75 | 76 | 74 | 63 | 51 | 44 | 57.4 |
| Avg. precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 2.1 | 4.1 | 8.0 | 11.9 | 14.2 | 20.7 | 24.6 | 22.8 | 20.1 | 9.8 | 4.4 | 2.2 | 144.9 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 259.7 | 231.8 | 248.4 | 228.2 | 235.1 | 186.4 | 161.9 | 168.3 | 177.7 | 233.4 | 251.0 | 261.0 | 2,642.9 |
| Source: China Meteorological Administration | |||||||||||||
Read more about this topic: Litang County
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