The climate of
Chamdo Prefecture is featured by cold. Because of the parallel canyon from south to north and located at the middle and low latitude, the weather distributes vertically and obviously with big area differences. There are rich lights and the solar radiation is very strong. The temperature difference between daytime and night is big, while the annual temperature difference is small. Rainfall concentrates in a period of the year but seasonal distribution is uneven, and the relative humidity is low.
The features of the climate in Chamdo are as follows:
1. Chamdo is a prefecture with clean air, long sunshine time and strong solar radiation. Located at the altitude above 3500m, the air in Chamdo is thin and the oxygen content is 2/3 of oxygen content of plain area. There are fewer impurities in the water and air, and the solar radiation is very strong. The sunshine time of a year in Chamdo is about 2180 to 2700 hrs, 30% more than that of Yangtze River Basin. Chamdo lies at the lee slope which is the rain shadow area, hence it seldom rains.
2. There is large temperature difference between daytime and night and small annual temperature difference with low temperature. The annual average temperature of Chamdo is 2.4℃-12.6℃. Because of terrain structure and the limitation of atmospheric circulation characteristics, the temperature of Sanhuang River Valley is highest of Chamdo.
3. The precipitation mostly concentrates in May to Sep., which is 182.3-538.2mm accounting for 77.9%-95.8% of a year. The precipitation of Oct. to May (next year), the precipitation is 19.6-102.6mm, accounting for 4.3%-21.2%. The rainy season is wet and mind, while the dry season is clod and dry.
Climate Data Table for Beijing
|
Month
Item
|
Jan
|
Feb
|
Mar
|
Apr
|
May
|
Jun
|
Jul
|
Aug
|
Sep
|
Oct
|
Nov
|
Dec
|
|
average temperature
(℃)
|
-2.8
|
0.7
|
4.5
|
7.9
|
12.2
|
15.2
|
16.0
|
15.3
|
12.8
|
8.2
|
2.8
|
-2.0
|
|
Rainfall (mm)
|
1.2
|
4.0
|
9.6
|
23.0
|
39.2
|
85.2
|
100.2
|
96.8
|
76.1
|
31.3
|
5.5
|
2.4
|
|
Days of rainfall
|
2.2
|
3.1
|
5.7
|
10.9
|
13.2
|
17.9
|
19.7
|
18.1
|
17.8
|
9.6
|
3.2
|
1.7
|
Tips for Chamdo Weather
Best time to visit Chamdo:
The best time to visit Chamdo is in May, June and September. During these months the weather is not so cold as winter and spring, and not so wet as the rainy season.
Avoid Peak Holidays:
It is not a good idea to travel in China during Chinese holidays when huge numbers of Chinese people are travelling around. The busiest three national holidays in China are Chinese Spring Festival (usually in late Jan or early Feb.), International Labor Day (May 01 to 03) and National Day (Oct 01-07).. Spring Festival is an especially crowded time to travel. The advantage of being in China at this time is that you will get the opportunity to experience "first hand" the significance of these celebrations in Chinese culture.
Other tips:
1. Please take enough thick clothes with you when travel to Chamdo in winter, while in summer, you should wear sweaters and woolen trousers because it is still a little cold at night.
2. Do not forget to prepare some medicines according to your health condition, such as drugs for cold, carsickness, sunburn and so on.
