Tourism Climate in Northern Tibet

Relation between Climate and Tourism

Tibet attracts an increasingly number of tourists recent years. Some of the tourists would always like to collect some information on the climate in Tibet while planning their lifetime Tibet tour. Explore the Tibet tourism climate resources and take full advantage of them have been an important part for the development of Tibet tourism. For better exploration of the Tibet tourism climate resource and help tourists to make a Tibet tour in the best time and enjoy the best scenery, Tibet Tour would like to provide some useful information regarding the Tibet tourism climate.

Actually, tourism is closely related to the climate and climate has been a vital factor in the development of tourism. Generally, tourists making a Tibet tour would firstly take the specific weather condition into their consideration since it directly influences their tourism purpose. Tibet is located in the middle latitude region in the Northern Hemisphere. It covers an area of 1.22 million square kilometers with an average altitude of 4000 meters. Surrounded by numerous high mountains, Tibet has a complicated climate. The rivers flow through Tibet and various lakes also influenced the climate types in different regions on Tibet Plateau.

Tibet is mainly divided into 5 climatic zones, including the Northern Tibet, Ngari Plateau, Southeastern Tibet, Middle Tibet and Southern Tibet.

Tourism Climate in Northern Tibet – Climatic Features

Northern Tibet (Nagqu, Ando, SenzhaBangor, Damgxung) is located in the plateau sub-frigid zone with an average elevation of 4500 meters. This region acted as the most important animal husbandry production base in Tibet Autonomous Region with severe cold winter and cool summer. There is distinctive dry season and rainy season. The annual average precipitation here is about 320 millimeters to 460 millimeters. The maximum annual precipitation in Northern Tibet is 685 millimeters in Damgxung in 1974 while the minimum annual precipitation is 176 millimeters in Shenzha in 1994. Generally, the rainy season of Northern Tibet starts in early June and most of the rainfall centers in the period between June and September.

The hailing happens frequently in Northern Tibet. The annual hailing days here ranks first in China and even in the regions at the same latitude in the Northern Hemisphere. The number of annual hailing days in Nagqu even reaches 35 days and there were even 64 hailing days here in 1954 according to the historical record.

The annual average temperature at Northern Tibet is between -2.8? to 1.7?. The average maximum temperature in summer (the period between May and September) here is 11? to 17?. The extremely high temperature here is between 23.2? and 26.7? which would appear in June. The average minimum temperature here is -7? to -9?. The extremely low temperature here is about -30? to -38? which would appear in January.

Tourism Climate in Northern Tibet – Best Season for Sightseeing

The sunshine duration in Northern Tibet is around 2400 hours to 3200 hours. The impurity content in the air is pretty low and tourists here could always enjoy a wonderful view for the high visibility. The period between November and March is the wind season of Northern Tibet. Tourists planning a Tibet tour are not advised to pay a visit here for the low temperature and dry air.

Summer is the golden season for the prairies in Northern Tibet. The annual growth period of the grassland here is about 150 days in total and all of them are focused in summer. The precipitation here in summer takes about 80 percent of the total annual rainfall and the relative humidity could even reaches 50 to 75 percent during this period. Summer is also the best season to visit Namtso Lake – the second largest salt water lake in China.