Garzê County

Garzê County
དཀར་མཛེས།
甘孜县
County
Garzê

Location in Sichuan

Coordinates: 31°37′23″N 100°00′04″E / 31.623°N 100.001°E / 31.623; 100.001Coordinates: 31°37′23″N 100°00′04″E / 31.623°N 100.001°E / 31.623; 100.001
Country People's Republic of China
Province Sichuan
Autonomous prefecture Garzê
Area
  Total 7,364 km2 (2,843 sq mi)
Highest elevation 5,688 m (18,661 ft)
Lowest elevation 3,325 m (10,909 ft)
Population
  Total 56,000
  Density 7.6/km2 (20/sq mi)
Postal code 624000

Garzê County (Tibetan: དཀར་མཛེས་རྫོང།, Wylie: dkar mdzes rdzong, ZYPY: Garzê Zong ; Chinese: 甘孜县; pinyin: Gānzī Xiàn) is one of the 18 subdivisions of the Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, in northwestern Sichuan province, China. The Yalong River passes just south of the town Garzê, also known as Ganzi, the capital town of the county, which has some 9,000 inhabitants (2008), many of them ethnic Tibetans, and is famous for its Tibetan lamasery. Historically, it is part of the Tibetan cultural region of Kham and now defunct province of Xikang (or Sikang). It lies on the northern section of the Sichuan-Tibet Highway.

Geography

Due to its elevation, Garzê County has a monsoon-influenced humid continental climate (Köppen Dwb), with cold but very dry winters, and warm summers with frequent rain. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from −4.4 °C (24.1 °F) in January to 13.9 °C (57.0 °F) in July, while the annual mean is 5.64 °C (42.2 °F). Over two-thirds of the annual precipitation of 660 mm (26.0 in) occurs from June thru September. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 49% in July to 74% in November and December, the county seat receives abundant, outside of summer, sunshine, totalling 2,620 hours annually. The diurnal temperature variation is large, averaging 14.5 °C (26.1 °F) annually.

Towns and Townships

Climate data for Garzê County (1971−2000)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) 5.1
(41.2)
7.6
(45.7)
11.2
(52.2)
14.6
(58.3)
18.2
(64.8)
20.2
(68.4)
21.0
(69.8)
21.0
(69.8)
18.7
(65.7)
14.9
(58.8)
9.9
(49.8)
5.5
(41.9)
13.99
(57.2)
Average low °C (°F) −11.5
(11.3)
−8
(18)
−3.8
(25.2)
−0.4
(31.3)
3.9
(39)
7.3
(45.1)
8.4
(47.1)
7.6
(45.7)
5.9
(42.6)
1.2
(34.2)
−6
(21)
−10.9
(12.4)
−0.52
(31.06)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 5.1
(0.201)
8.5
(0.335)
19.5
(0.768)
34.7
(1.366)
79.2
(3.118)
133.4
(5.252)
116.7
(4.594)
94.1
(3.705)
109.5
(4.311)
46.0
(1.811)
8.6
(0.339)
4.5
(0.177)
659.8
(25.977)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) 3.9 5.9 8.8 12.3 17.8 22.1 21.6 18.6 19.2 13.0 4.7 3.0 150.9
Average relative humidity (%) 45 45 48 53 57 67 72 71 72 65 53 49 58.1
Mean monthly sunshine hours 220.5 202.7 221.4 223.5 235.7 212.7 211.7 208.0 198.3 220.7 232.7 232.4 2,620.3
Percent possible sunshine 69 65 60 58 56 50 49 51 54 63 74 74 59
Source: China Meteorological Administration [1]

Transport

References

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Ganzi.
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