Geography and Climate
Shigatse lies on flat terrain surrounded by high mountains, and the urban area is located just south of the Yarlung Zangbo River, located in the south-central Tibet Autonomous Region. The city itself lies at an elevation of around 3,840 metres (12,600 ft), and within its administrative area there are five peaks higher than 5,500 metres (18,000 ft). The city's administrative area ranges in latitude from 29° 07' to 29° 09' N and in longitude from 88° 03' to 89° 08' E.
Shigatse has a monsoon-influenced, alpine version of a humid continental climate (Köppen Dwb), with frosty, very dry winters and warm, wet summers. Temperatures are relatively moderate for the Tibetan Plateau, as the annual mean temperature is 6.3 °C (43.3 °F). Barely any precipitation falls from November to March, when differences between day and night can frequently exceed 20 °C (36 °F). Nearly two-thirds of the annual rainfall occurs in July and August alone. Sunshine is abundant year-round, totaling 3248 hours annually.
| Climate data for Shigatse (1971−2000) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | 6.2 (43.2) |
8.3 (46.9) |
11.9 (53.4) |
15.5 (59.9) |
19.5 (67.1) |
22.3 (72.1) |
21.3 (70.3) |
20.2 (68.4) |
19.1 (66.4) |
16.1 (61.0) |
11.0 (51.8) |
7.2 (45.0) |
14.9 (58.8) |
| Average low °C (°F) | −12.6 (9.3) |
−9.3 (15.3) |
−4.7 (23.5) |
−0.5 (31.1) |
3.5 (38.3) |
7.6 (45.7) |
8.8 (47.8) |
8.2 (46.8) |
5.8 (42.4) |
−1.2 (29.8) |
−8.3 (17.1) |
−12.1 (10.2) |
−1.2 (29.8) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | .4 (0.016) |
.2 (0.008) |
.6 (0.024) |
2.1 (0.083) |
18.7 (0.736) |
64.0 (2.52) |
129.6 (5.102) |
152.3 (5.996) |
56.2 (2.213) |
5.4 (0.213) |
.9 (0.035) |
0 (0) |
430.4 (16.945) |
| Avg. precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) | .2 | .5 | .7 | 2.2 | 6.4 | 12.4 | 18.8 | 20.8 | 13.0 | 2.2 | .4 | .1 | 77.7 |
| Source: Weather China | |||||||||||||
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