Geography
Pu'er is located in southern/southwestern Yunnan, on the lower reaches of the Mekong (known in China as the Lancang), with the bordering prefectures being Yuxi to the northeast, Honghe to the east, Xishuangbanna to the south, Lincang to the northwest, and Dali and Chuxiong. It also shares borders with Vietnam (Dien Bien province), Laos (Phongsali Province), and Burma (Shan State), being the only prefecture in Yunnan to border all three countries. As with much of the province, mountainous terrain dominates its administrative area, covering 98.3%. Elevations range from 376 to 3,306 metres (1,234 to 10,846 ft).
Located at an altitude of just above 1,300 m (4,300 ft) and within a degree south of the Tropic of Cancer, Pu'er has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cwa), with warm days year-round, although from January to April, temperatures cool off sharply at night, yet frost is rare. From June to August, rainfall is particularly common and relative humidity averages in the mid-to-upper 80%, pushing sunshine levels to 30% of the possible total. The coolest month is January, with a daily average of 12.5 °C (54.5 °F), while the warmest is June, at 22.3 °C (72.1 °F). More than 85% of the annual rainfall occurs from May to October.
| Climate data for Pu'er (1971−2000) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | 20.6 (69.1) |
22.9 (73.2) |
26.4 (79.5) |
28.2 (82.8) |
28.0 (82.4) |
27.1 (80.8) |
26.3 (79.3) |
26.7 (80.1) |
26.1 (79) |
24.6 (76.3) |
21.8 (71.2) |
19.6 (67.3) |
24.9 (76.8) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 6.8 (44.2) |
7.8 (46) |
10.3 (50.5) |
13.7 (56.7) |
17.2 (63) |
19.4 (66.9) |
19.4 (66.9) |
19.1 (66.4) |
18.2 (64.8) |
16.0 (60.8) |
12.2 (54) |
8.2 (46.8) |
14.0 (57.2) |
| Rainfall mm (inches) | 13.4 (0.528) |
18.3 (0.72) |
23.9 (0.941) |
51.0 (2.008) |
150.8 (5.937) |
219.5 (8.642) |
324.3 (12.768) |
309.6 (12.189) |
167.8 (6.606) |
125.4 (4.937) |
73.6 (2.898) |
19.6 (0.772) |
1,497.2 (58.946) |
| Avg. rainy days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 4.1 | 4.0 | 4.8 | 10.3 | 17.6 | 22.6 | 25.9 | 24.4 | 19.8 | 15.6 | 9.2 | 5.3 | 163.6 |
| % humidity | 78 | 71 | 64 | 67 | 76 | 84 | 87 | 87 | 85 | 84 | 84 | 82 | 79.1 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 226.4 | 221.6 | 237.0 | 220.3 | 188.2 | 120.2 | 98.2 | 112.9 | 127.4 | 149.8 | 149.4 | 187.0 | 2,038.4 |
| Source: China Meteorological Administration | |||||||||||||
Read more about this topic: Pu'er City
Famous quotes containing the word geography:
“Ktaadn, near which we were to pass the next day, is said to mean “Highest Land.” So much geography is there in their names.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“At present cats have more purchasing power and influence than the poor of this planet. Accidents of geography and colonial history should no longer determine who gets the fish.”
—Derek Wall (b. 1965)
“The totality of our so-called knowledge or beliefs, from the most casual matters of geography and history to the profoundest laws of atomic physics or even of pure mathematics and logic, is a man-made fabric which impinges on experience only along the edges. Or, to change the figure, total science is like a field of force whose boundary conditions are experience.”
—Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)