Ruoergai County or Zoigê County (Tibetan: མཛོད་དགེ་རྫོང་།, Wylie: mdzod dge rdzong, ZYPY: Zoigê Zong; simplified Chinese: 若尔盖县; traditional Chinese: 若爾蓋縣; pinyin: Ruò'ěrgài Xiàn) is a county of Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan, China, bordering Gansu to the north. It is the northernmost county of the province. It is part of the Tibetan traditional region of Amdo.
Ruoergai County
若尔盖县 · མཛོད་དགེ་རྫོང་། | |
---|---|
County | |
![]() Baozuo township in Ruoergai County | |
![]() Ruoergai County (pink) in Ngawa Prefecture (yellow) and Sichuan | |
![]() ![]() Ruoergai Location of the seat in Sichuan | |
Coordinates (Zoigê County Cultural Pavilion (若尔盖县文化馆)): 33°34′30″N 102°57′43″E | |
Country | People's Republic of China |
Province | Sichuan |
Autonomous prefecture | Ngawa |
County seat | Dazhasi (达扎寺镇) |
Area | |
• Total | 10,620 km2 (4,100 sq mi) |
Population (2010) | |
• Total | 69,000 |
• Density | 6.5/km2 (17/sq mi) |
• Major nationalities | Tibetan - 90.4% |
Time zone | UTC+8 (China Standard) |
Postal code | 624500 |
Area code | 0837 |
It has an area of 10,620 km2 (4,100 sq mi) and a population of 69,900, 90.4% of which are Tibetan people.[1]
Ruoergai County is found in the easternmost sections of the Tibetan Plateau. The county is primarily a highland basin made up of the Ruoergai Marsh between the Min Mountains and Amne Machin. The western border of the county, shared with Maqu County in Gansu, is formed by the first major bend of the Yellow River where it changes course nearly 180 degrees and heads back towards Qinghai.
Ruoergai has an alpine subarctic climate (Köppen Dwc), featuring very cold nights even in summertime, and very cold winters with extreme diurnal temperature ranges. Snow can fall any time of the year and usually does not melt until summer due to repeated nightly freezing even when maxima are above 0 °C (32 °F). Therefore, access to Ruoergai is heavily restricted during the winter months from late October to early May. Sitting at an altitude of more than 11,000 feet, high-altitude sickness is another common problem for tourists.
Climate data for Zoige | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °C (°F) | 12.4 (54.3) |
15.5 (59.9) |
18.3 (64.9) |
23.5 (74.3) |
23.3 (73.9) |
24.1 (75.4) |
25.2 (77.4) |
25.4 (77.7) |
23.8 (74.8) |
22.6 (72.7) |
16.2 (61.2) |
11.4 (52.5) |
25.4 (77.7) |
Average high °C (°F) | 0.5 (32.9) |
2.4 (36.3) |
5.9 (42.6) |
9.3 (48.7) |
12.6 (54.7) |
15.0 (59.0) |
17.2 (63.0) |
17.2 (63.0) |
13.3 (55.9) |
9.2 (48.6) |
4.8 (40.6) |
1.7 (35.1) |
9.1 (48.4) |
Daily mean °C (°F) | −10.1 (13.8) |
−7.0 (19.4) |
−2.3 (27.9) |
1.7 (35.1) |
5.5 (41.9) |
8.7 (47.7) |
10.7 (51.3) |
10.1 (50.2) |
6.5 (43.7) |
1.8 (35.2) |
−4.2 (24.4) |
−8.8 (16.2) |
1.0 (33.9) |
Average low °C (°F) | −19.3 (−2.7) |
−15.0 (5.0) |
−8.5 (16.7) |
−4.0 (24.8) |
−0.1 (31.8) |
3.4 (38.1) |
5.3 (41.5) |
4.4 (39.9) |
1.7 (35.1) |
−3.2 (26.2) |
−10.5 (13.1) |
−17.0 (1.4) |
−5.2 (22.6) |
Record low °C (°F) | −33.6 (−28.5) |
−31.8 (−25.2) |
−26.0 (−14.8) |
−16.6 (2.1) |
−11.5 (11.3) |
−6.6 (20.1) |
−3.7 (25.3) |
−5.6 (21.9) |
−9.6 (14.7) |
−15.5 (4.1) |
−23.4 (−10.1) |
−28.0 (−18.4) |
−33.6 (−28.5) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 4.8 (0.19) |
7.9 (0.31) |
17.2 (0.68) |
36.6 (1.44) |
76.8 (3.02) |
101.6 (4.00) |
122.4 (4.82) |
112.6 (4.43) |
101.0 (3.98) |
57.0 (2.24) |
7.8 (0.31) |
2.8 (0.11) |
648.5 (25.53) |
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 5.4 | 7.5 | 11.8 | 14.8 | 18.5 | 19.8 | 18.6 | 16.7 | 18.7 | 15.7 | 5.8 | 3.7 | 157 |
Source: Weather China |
Ruoergai County has four towns and 13 townships:[2]
County-level divisions of Sichuan Province | |||
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Chengdu (capital) | |||
Sub-provincial city | |||
Prefecture-level cities | |||
Autonomous prefectures | |||
Special jurisdictions |
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