Ordos City - Geography and Climate

Geography and Climate

Ordos's prefectural administrative region occupies 86,752 square kilometres (33,495 sq mi) and covers the bigger part of the Ordos Desert, although the urban area itself is relatively small. The region borders the prefectures of Hohhot to the east, Baotou to the northeast, Bayan Nur to the north, Alxa League to the northwest, Wuhai to the west, the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region to its southwest, and the provinces of Shaanxi and Shanxi to the south.

The area of Ordos Shi can roughly be divided into a hilly area in the east, high plateaus in the west and center, sandy deserts in the north and south, and plains at the southern bank of the Yellow river. The highest elevation, at 2,149 metres (7,051 ft), is located in the west, the lowest point, at 850 m (2,790 ft), is in the east.

There are two large deserts within the territory of Ordos Shi, namely the Kubuqi Desert (库布其沙漠) in the north, and the Maowusu Desert (毛乌素沙漠) in the south. The Kubuqi Desert occupies 19.2% of Ordos, or 16,600 km2 (6,400 sq mi), while the Maowusu Desert takes up 28.8% of the area, or 25,000 km2 (9,700 sq mi).

Ordos features a cold semi-arid climate (Köppen BSk), marked by long, cold and very dry winters, very warm, somewhat humid summers, and strong winds, especially in spring. The annual precipitation is 300 to 400 millimetres (11.8 to 15.7 in) in the eastern part of the prefecture, and 190 to 350 mm (7.5 to 13.8 in) in the western part. Most of the rain falls between July and September, with very little snow in winter.