Climate & Weather in Dunhuang
Dunhuang, being surrounded by high mountains, has an arid, continental climate. The annual average temperature is 9.48 °C (49.1 °F), but the monthly daily mean temperature ranges from 24.6 °C (76.3 °F) in July down to −8.3 °C (17.1 °F) in January. The city is extremely hot in summer and cold in winter, and usually has sharp temperature differences between day and night. Precipitation occurs only in trace amounts and quickly evaporates.
Climate data for Dunhuang (1971−2010) | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Average high °C (°F) | −0.8 (30.6) |
4.9 (40.8) |
12.7 (54.9) |
21.2 (70.2) |
27.0 (80.6) |
30.9 (87.6) |
32.7 (90.9) |
31.7 (89.1) |
26.8 (80.2) |
18.8 (65.8) |
8.4 (47.1) |
0.6 (33.1) |
17.9 (64.2) |
Average low °C (°F) | −14.6 (5.7) |
−10.5 (13.1) |
−3.2 (26.2) |
4.1 (39.4) |
9.6 (49.3) |
13.9 (57) |
16.4 (61.5) |
14.6 (58.3) |
8.5 (47.3) |
0.6 (33.1) |
−5.5 (22.1) |
−12 (10.4) |
1.8 (35.2) |
Precipitation mm (inches) | 0.8 (0.031) |
0.8 (0.031) |
2.1 (0.083) |
2.4 (0.094) |
2.4 (0.094) |
8.0 (0.315) |
15.2 (0.598) |
6.3 (0.248) |
1.5 (0.059) |
0.8 (0.031) |
1.3 (0.051) |
0.8 (0.031) |
42.4 (1.666) |
Avg. precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 1.5 | 0.9 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 3.7 | 4.8 | 2.6 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 21.1 |
% humidity | 52 | 40 | 35 | 31 | 33 | 42 | 45 | 45 | 45 | 45 | 51 | 55 | 43.3 |
Mean monthly sunshine hours | 219.0 | 218.6 | 254.9 | 282.4 | 320.2 | 313.6 | 318.9 | 316.1 | 296.1 | 280.8 | 230.4 | 206.8 | 3,257.8 |
Source: China Meteorological Administration |
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