Mongolian Geography and Weather

Mongolia is a beautiful country. It has mountains in the northwest and the center of the country. The famous Gobi Desert covers most of the south of the country. And in the northeast there are flat, vast steppe lands where herds of gazelle roam (click here to learn more about Mongolian gazelles: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Mongolian_gazelle). Rivers run through several parts of the country. In the center is the Tuul River; the northeast has the Kherlen River; and the north central has the Selenge River. The biggest lake in Mongolia, Khovsgul Lake, is in the north central near the Russian Border. Mongolia is landlocked so it has no ocean coastlines. It is surrounded by Russia in the north and China in the south.

This is Zuunmod near Ulaanbaatar.

Mongolia is known as “the Land of the Blue Sky” because there are over 260 days of clear blue sky and sunshine a year. This is a very good thing because Mongolia is also very cold.  Winter starts in October or November and lasts until March or April. With 6 to 8 months of winter, it’s nice at least to have a beautiful blue sky. Temperatures in the winter rarely go above freezing (0 degree celsius/32 degrees fahrenheit), and it can get as low as -30 degrees celsius/-22 degrees fahrenheit. It snows in Mongolia but not as much as you might think. The problem is that when it does snow, the snow is around all winter because it doesn’t get warm enough to melt. In 2010, Mongolia had one of the coldest winters on record. This is called a zuud. The temperatures reached to -50 degrees celsius/-58 degrees fahrenheit. It was so cold that millions of animals died. Many herders lost their entire herd of animals. It was very difficult, and many herders have still not recovered from their losses.

Mongolia is dry. In the spring, it is very windy. The combination of dry and windy produces dust storms. You don’t want to get caught outside in a dust storm! You get coated with dust and it hurts a little bit when tiny rocks hit you. The summers are short and hot. It’s usually in the 80s (fahrenheit; high 20s celsius) in July and August, and sometimes it reaches into the 90s (fahrenheit; 30s celsius). All the seasons except winter are short.For current weather conditions in Mongolia, click this link: http://www.wunderground.com/global/MO.html