Lhorong County (Tibetan: ལྷོ་རོང་རྫོང་།, Chinese: 洛隆县) is a county of Chamdo in the Tibet Autonomous Region, China. The county covers an area of 8,108 km2 (3,131 sq mi) and has a population of around 40,000 as of 2003. The word Lhorong means "valley in the south" or "river in the south" in Tibetan.

Geography and climate

Lhorong County is located in the northeast of the Tibet Autonomous Region, in the eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and contains some 100 kilometres or 60 miles of the Nu River (Salween River). The Nu River flows through Tibet into Gongshan Dulong and Nu Autonomous County of Yunnan Province. It later flows through Lushui County and into Myanmar, eventually into the Indian Ocean. Lhorong County lies to the south-west of the Qamdo Prefecture. Banbar County lies to the northwest, Baxoi County lies across the river to the east, Banbar County to the west, Dêngqên County to the north, and Riwoqê County to the northeast. From east to west the county is 127 kilometers and from north to south the greatest distance of is 105 kilometres.[citation needed] A county has a total area of 8048.4 square kikometres. The total population is around 36,000 people (1999), with estimates in 2003 being around 40,000.[citation needed] Other rivers of Lhorong County include the Jalan Song, Maqu, and the Zhuoma Lang. The county also contains numerous small lakes which the locals compare to 21 fairies.

Not untypically for the "river region" of Tibet, the county has a dry-winter humid continental climate (Köppen Dwb), bordering on a cool semi-arid climate (BSk). The average annual temperature is 6.1 °C or 43.0 °F, the midsummer (July) average 14.5 °C or 58.1 °F, and the midwinter (January) mean −3.5 °C or 25.7 °F. The country experiences 2,500 hours of sunshine annually on average, with a frost-free period of 120 days or so. The annual average rainfall is 416.1 millimetres or 16.38 inches.

Climate data for Lhorong, elevation 3,612 m (11,850 ft), (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1981–present)
MonthJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecYear
Record high °C (°F)19.6 (67.3)17.0 (62.6)19.1 (66.4)20.8 (69.4)25.6 (78.1)27.3 (81.1)30.6 (87.1)28.8 (83.8)27.4 (81.3)22.7 (72.9)19.0 (66.2)16.5 (61.7)30.6 (87.1)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)5.1 (41.2)6.7 (44.1)9.6 (49.3)13.2 (55.8)17.1 (62.8)20.7 (69.3)22.3 (72.1)22.0 (71.6)20.0 (68.0)14.5 (58.1)9.9 (49.8)6.7 (44.1)14.0 (57.2)
Daily mean °C (°F)−3.5 (25.7)−1.0 (30.2)2.2 (36.0)5.6 (42.1)9.8 (49.6)13.6 (56.5)15.0 (59.0)14.3 (57.7)12.2 (54.0)6.8 (44.2)1.2 (34.2)−2.6 (27.3)6.1 (43.0)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)−10.9 (12.4)−8.0 (17.6)−4.1 (24.6)−0.5 (31.1)3.6 (38.5)7.9 (46.2)9.5 (49.1)8.8 (47.8)6.4 (43.5)0.8 (33.4)−5.8 (21.6)−10.1 (13.8)−0.2 (31.6)
Record low °C (°F)−22.1 (−7.8)−20.6 (−5.1)−18.1 (−0.6)−10.0 (14.0)−5.8 (21.6)−0.6 (30.9)0.6 (33.1)0.3 (32.5)−2.2 (28.0)−9.3 (15.3)−18.2 (−0.8)−21.9 (−7.4)−22.1 (−7.8)
Average precipitation mm (inches)2.4 (0.09)7.2 (0.28)14.1 (0.56)27.7 (1.09)43.6 (1.72)61.1 (2.41)80.4 (3.17)76.8 (3.02)59.5 (2.34)34.7 (1.37)6.9 (0.27)1.7 (0.07)416.1 (16.39)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm)2.04.58.011.311.813.916.816.413.28.54.42.1112.9
Average snowy days3.86.811.413.13.20.100.10.45.76.53.654.7
Average relative humidity (%)42434852525761626056494352
Mean monthly sunshine hours217.5204.9223.1212.6236.5203.7185.6184.9203.7218.3215.5214.22,520.5
Percentage possible sunshine67656055564843465663696858
Source: China Meteorological Administration

Subdivisions

Lhorong County contains 4 towns and 7 townships.

NameChineseHanyu PinyinTibetanWylie
Towns
Dzito Town (Lhorong)孜托镇Zītuō zhènརྫི་ཐོ་གྲོང་རྡལ།rdzi tho grong rdal
Xobando Town硕督镇Shuòdū zhènཤོ་པ་མདོ་གྲོང་རྡལ།sho pa mdo grong rdal
Khangsar Town康沙镇Kāngshā zhènཁང་གསར་གྲོང་རྡལ།khang gsar grong rdal
Marri Town马利镇Mǎlì zhènདམར་རི་གྲོང་རྡལ།dmar ri grong rdal
Townships
Dakrong Township达龙乡Dálóng xiāngགདགས་རོང་ཤང་།gdags rong shang
Shingrong Township新荣乡Xīnróng xiāngཤིང་རོང་ཤང་།shing rong shang
Pedak Township白达乡Báidá xiāngཔད་གདགས་ཤང་།pad gdags shang
Yülzhi Township玉西乡Yùxī xiāngཡུལ་བཞི་ཤང་།yul bzhi shang
Nagchok Township腊久乡Làjiǔ xiāngནག་ལྕོག་ཤང་།nag lcog shang
Ngülshö Township俄西乡Éxī xiāngརྔུལ་ཤོད་ཤང་།rngul shod shang
Kungye Sumdo Township中亦乡Zhōngyì xiāngཀུང་ཡས་གསུམ་མདོ་ཤང་།kung yas gsum mdo shang

External links