Climate
The climate of the lake area is continental. Average temperature is about 30 °C in July and –14 °C in January. Average precipitation is 131 mm per year and the relative humidity is about 60%. Wind, dry climate and high summer temperatures result in high evaporation rate – 950 mm in cold and up to 1200 mm in dry years. Wind has average speed of 4.5–4.8 m/s and blows mainly southward in the western part and to the south-west in the eastern part. The wind induces waves up to 2–3.5 m in height and steady clockwise currents in the western part.
There are 110–130 sunny days per year with the average irradiance of 15.9 MJ/m2 per day. Water temperature at the surface of the lake varies from 0 °C in December to 28 °C in July. The average annual temperature is 10 °C in the western and 9 °C in the eastern parts of the lake. The lake freezes every year between November and early April, and the melting is delayed by some 10–15 days in the eastern part.
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| Climate chart (explanation) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Depth | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | June | July | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eastern part of the lake | ||||||||||||
| 0 | – | –0.2 | 0.2 | – | 13.9 | 19.0 | 23.4 | 23.2 | 17.2 | 11.4 | – | – |
| 10 | – | 1 | – | – | 10.8 | 16.7 | 21.7 | 22.8 | – | – | – | – |
| 20 (near the bottom) |
– | 1.7 | 1.9 | – | 8.9 | 13.7 | 14.6 | 19.7 | 17.1 | 11.5 | – | – |
| Western part of the lake, near Balkhash City | ||||||||||||
| 0 | - | 0.0 | 0.8 | 6.7 | 13.3 | 20.5 | 24.7 | 22.7 | 16.6 | 7.8 | 2.0 | – |
| 3 (near the bottom) |
– | 0.3 | 2.2 | 6.5 | 13.1 | 19.6 | 24.1 | 22.6 | 16.5 | 7.4 | 2.0 | – |
Read more about this topic: Lake Balkhash
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