Tibet Tour – Climate Features

Tourists planning a Tibet tour should have a common knowledge of the climate of Tibet. This article summarized the climate features of Tibet. It will be helpful for your preparation before your Tibet tour.

Tibet has complicated climate due to the various and peculiar landforms on Tibet Plateau. In general, the climate of northwestern Tibet is characterized by cold and the climate of the southeastern Tibet is characterized by warm and humid. There are subtropical zone, temperate zone, sub-frigid zone and frigid zone. There are humid area, semi-humid area, semiarid area and arid area.

The climate of Tibet is characterized by long sunshine duration, strong sunshine radiation, and big difference in temperature between day and night. Tibet has distinctive dry season and rainy season and it rains a lot in the nights. The day is pretty warm even in the cold winter because of the long sunshine duration and strong sunshine radiation. The temperature will drop below zero because of the big temperature difference between day and night.

The most obvious climate feature of Tibet is big temperature difference between day and night. The highest temperature reaches 28? while the lowest temperature drops to 10? in August. The winter in Tibet is not as cold as we imagined, but the strong ultraviolet irradiation here might be a big challenge for a Tibet tour.

Compared to the other areas at the same latitude, the temperature of Tibet is relatively lower and there is a small annual temperature difference. The temperature rises quickly because of the strong sunshine radiation; hence you will not feel too cold if there is sunshine even in the cold winter.

Tibet is of rich solar energy because of the strong sunshine radiation. The local Tibetans make full use of the rich solar energy in their daily life. Tourists will find solar energy is widely applied into the daily life of the Tibetans.

The air in Tibet is pretty thin. There is only about 150 – 170 grams of oxygen in each square meter of air, which only amounts to 62% - 65.4% of the plain area. Thin air here is the mainly cause of breath shortness and choking sensation in chest during the first period of your Tibet tour.

Maladjustment to the Tibet is due to the altitude sickness and the dry climate here. The winter and spring in Tibet is called dry season and windy season. The dry season lasts from October to May of the next year. It is pretty dry and the precipitation is quite little. The snow mainly concentrated between November and February of the next year. Sometimes the snow lasts to April or May at the regions with an altitude of more than 4000 meters. The summer in Tibet is pretty cool, the highest temperature of Lhasa in summer is only 28?.