Tongde County (Chinese: 同德县, Tibetan: འབལ་རྫོང་།) is a county of Qinghai province, China. It is under the administration of Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.

Administrative divisions

Tongde County is made up of 2 towns and 3 townships:

NameSimplified ChineseHanyu PinyinTibetanWylieAdministrative division code
Towns
Gabasumdo Town (Gabasongduo)尕巴松多镇Gǎbāsōngduō Zhènརྐ་འབའ་སུམ་མདོ་གྲོང་རྡལ།rka ʼbaʼ sum mdo grong rdal632522100
Tanggo Town (Tanggu)唐谷镇Tánggǔ Zhènཐང་མགོ་གྲོང་བརྡལ།thang mgo grong brdal632522101
Townships
Balung Township (Bagou)巴沟乡Bāgōu Xiāngའབའ་ལུང་ཞང་།ʼbaʼ lung zhang632522200
Xoima Township (Xiuma)秀麻乡Xiùmá Xiāngཞོལ་མ་ཞང་།zhol ma zhang632522201
Maqang Township (Hebei)河北乡Héběi Xiāngརྨ་བྱང་ཞང་།rma byang zhang632522202
  • Other: Provincial Grass Seed Breeding Farm (省牧草良种繁殖场)

Geography and climate

Tongde County has an alpine subarctic climate (Köppen Dwc), with long, very cold and dry winters, and short, rainy, mild summers. Average low temperatures are below freezing from mid/late September to mid May; however, due to the wide diurnal temperature variation (at an average 16.9 °C or 30.4 °F), only January has an average high that is below freezing. Despite frequent rain during summer, when a majority of days sees rain, no month has less than 50% of possible sunshine; with monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 51% in June to 81% in November, the county seat receives 2,806 hours of bright sunshine annually. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from −13.0 °C (8.6 °F) in January to 11.7 °C (53.1 °F) in July, while the annual mean is 0.57 °C (33.0 °F). Over 70% of the annual precipitation of 426 mm (16.8 in) is delivered from June to September.

Climate data for Tongde County, elevation 3,148 m (10,328 ft), (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1971–2010)
MonthJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecYear
Record high °C (°F)12.7 (54.9)13.1 (55.6)18.9 (66.0)25.5 (77.9)25.4 (77.7)26.6 (79.9)29.8 (85.6)28.0 (82.4)26.4 (79.5)21.7 (71.1)14.5 (58.1)10.2 (50.4)29.8 (85.6)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)1.9 (35.4)5.2 (41.4)9.3 (48.7)13.8 (56.8)16.2 (61.2)18.6 (65.5)21.2 (70.2)21.4 (70.5)17.6 (63.7)12.5 (54.5)7.4 (45.3)2.9 (37.2)12.3 (54.2)
Daily mean °C (°F)−8.4 (16.9)−4.6 (23.7)0.1 (32.2)5.2 (41.4)8.7 (47.7)12.0 (53.6)14.2 (57.6)13.7 (56.7)9.9 (49.8)3.9 (39.0)−2.7 (27.1)−7.7 (18.1)3.7 (38.7)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)−16.1 (3.0)−12.5 (9.5)−7.3 (18.9)−2.0 (28.4)2.4 (36.3)6.5 (43.7)8.6 (47.5)8.0 (46.4)4.8 (40.6)−2.0 (28.4)−9.6 (14.7)−15.3 (4.5)−2.9 (26.8)
Record low °C (°F)−37.2 (−35.0)−30.7 (−23.3)−27.0 (−16.6)−18.3 (−0.9)−10.3 (13.5)−5.0 (23.0)−2.5 (27.5)−6.8 (19.8)−9.6 (14.7)−18.6 (−1.5)−28.0 (−18.4)−30.6 (−23.1)−37.2 (−35.0)
Average precipitation mm (inches)2.2 (0.09)4.0 (0.16)8.2 (0.32)26.7 (1.05)68.6 (2.70)81.2 (3.20)96.1 (3.78)95.7 (3.77)74.8 (2.94)23.1 (0.91)4.3 (0.17)1.2 (0.05)486.1 (19.14)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm)2.53.34.57.515.418.218.116.217.08.82.31.2115
Average snowy days2.83.95.45.32.40.10.100.23.22.81.527.7
Average relative humidity (%)34343544556366666758453550
Mean monthly sunshine hours220.8202.2239.5240.2225.7198.4213.5218.1191.5218.9225.4227.62,621.8
Percentage possible sunshine70656461524649535264747560
Source: China Meteorological Administration

See also