Climate
Golmud has a cold arid climate (Köppen BWk), with long, cold winters, and warm summers. The mean monthly temperature drops to −9.1 °C (15.6 °F) in January and rises to 17.9 °C (64 °F) in July, averaging 5.28 °C (41.5 °F) for the year. Precipitation is very low, totalling only 42 millimetres (1.65 in) per annum, falling on 28 days, most of which are during the summer. Relative humidity averages only 32%, and due to this aridity, the area is one of the sunniest in China, with nearly 3100 hours of sunshine per year.
| Climate data for Golmud (1971–2000) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | −1.3 (29.7) |
2.9 (37.2) |
8.6 (47.5) |
14.5 (58.1) |
19.4 (66.9) |
22.6 (72.7) |
24.7 (76.5) |
24.2 (75.6) |
19.3 (66.7) |
12.9 (55.2) |
5.4 (41.7) |
−0.2 (31.6) |
12.8 (55.0) |
| Average low °C (°F) | −15.3 (4.5) |
−11.6 (11.1) |
−6.1 (21.0) |
−0.2 (31.6) |
5.3 (41.5) |
9.4 (48.9) |
11.6 (52.9) |
10.9 (51.6) |
6.3 (43.3) |
−1.2 (29.8) |
−8.9 (16.0) |
−14 (6.8) |
−1.2 (29.8) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | .6 (0.024) |
.4 (0.016) |
1.1 (0.043) |
.9 (0.035) |
3.7 (0.146) |
8.5 (0.335) |
13.5 (0.531) |
7.8 (0.307) |
3.4 (0.134) |
.9 (0.035) |
.7 (0.028) |
.7 (0.028) |
42.2 (1.661) |
| % humidity | 39 | 30 | 27 | 24 | 27 | 33 | 37 | 34 | 33 | 29 | 32 | 38 | 31.9 |
| Avg. precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 1.4 | .8 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 2.6 | 5.1 | 6.4 | 4.2 | 2.4 | .7 | .9 | 1.1 | 27.7 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 219.9 | 210.9 | 247.7 | 274.3 | 295.3 | 273.4 | 276.4 | 284.6 | 261.2 | 277.7 | 247.7 | 227.3 | 3,096.4 |
| Source: China Meteorological Administration | |||||||||||||
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