Geography and Climate
With an elevation of around 3,700 metres (12,100 ft), Yushu County has an alpine subarctic climate (Köppen Dwc), with long, cold, very dry winters, and short, rainy, and mild summers. The monthly daily mean temperature in January, the coldest month, is −7.6 °C (18.3 °F), while the same figure for July, the warmest month, is 12.7 °C (54.9 °F); the year averages out at 3.22 °C (37.8 °F). Most of the annual precipitation is delivered from June to September.
| Climate data for Yushu County (1971−2000) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | 1.9 (35.4) |
4.1 (39.4) |
8.4 (47.1) |
12.2 (54) |
15.9 (60.6) |
18.4 (65.1) |
20.0 (68) |
20.0 (68) |
16.9 (62.4) |
12.3 (54.1) |
6.8 (44.2) |
2.8 (37) |
11.6 (52.9) |
| Average low °C (°F) | −15.1 (4.8) |
−11.5 (11.3) |
−6.5 (20.3) |
−2.9 (26.8) |
1.6 (34.9) |
5.3 (41.5) |
6.9 (44.4) |
5.9 (42.6) |
3.6 (38.5) |
−1.9 (28.6) |
−9.5 (14.9) |
−14.4 (6.1) |
−3.2 (26.2) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 3.1 (0.122) |
5.1 (0.201) |
8.4 (0.331) |
16.6 (0.654) |
54.0 (2.126) |
102.2 (4.024) |
102.1 (4.02) |
83.9 (3.303) |
75.4 (2.969) |
29.1 (1.146) |
3.7 (0.146) |
2.2 (0.087) |
485.8 (19.129) |
| Avg. precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 3.5 | 4.4 | 7.0 | 10.5 | 17.8 | 21.8 | 20.9 | 18.3 | 19.4 | 12.5 | 3.4 | 2.2 | 141.7 |
| % humidity | 44 | 41 | 41 | 48 | 57 | 65 | 68 | 68 | 71 | 64 | 50 | 45 | 55.2 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 186.6 | 177.6 | 213.9 | 227.4 | 237.4 | 210.3 | 227.0 | 225.2 | 188.0 | 202.6 | 207.0 | 193.3 | 2,496.3 |
| Source: China Meteorological Administration | |||||||||||||
Read more about this topic: Yushu County
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