Gar County
Gar County (Tibetan: སྒར་རྫོང་།; Chinese: 噶尔县), formerly Senge Tsangpo County, is a district (county) in the Ngari Prefecture of the western Tibet Autonomous Region of China. The main town is Shiquanhe (Sênggêkanbab), also called "Gar", on account of being the county seat, and "Ali", on account of being the seat of Ngari Prefecture.
Administrative divisions
Gar county is divided into 1 town and 4 townships:
| Name | Chinese | Hanyu Pinyin | Tibetan | Wylie |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Town | ||||
| Sênggêkanbab Town (Shiquanhe, Sênggêzangbo, Gar) |
狮泉河镇 | Shīquánhé zhèn | སེང་གེ་ཁ་འབབ་གྲོང་རྡལ། | seng ge kha 'bab grong rdal |
| Townships | ||||
| Günsa Township | 昆莎乡 | Kūnshā xiāng | དགུན་ས་ཤང་། | dgun sa shang |
| Zoco Township | 左左乡 | Zuǒzuǒ xiāng | གཙོ་ཚོ་ཤང་། | gtso tsho shang |
| Moincêr Township | 门士乡 | Ménshì xiāng | མོནམཚེར་ཤང་། | mon mtsher shang |
| Zhaxigang Township | 扎西岗乡 | Zhāxīgǎng xiāng | བཀྲ་ཤིས་སྒང་ཤང་། | bkra shis sgang shang |
Geography
Main rivers in the county include Sênggê Zangbo and Gar Zangbo.
Climate
Gar County has a cool arid climate (Köppen BWk) with the temperature characteristics of a subalpine climate (Dwc). Summers are comfortable to warm with fairly frequent light showers, whilst winters are long, frigid but exceedingly dry and clear.
| Climate data for Shiquanhe, elevation 4,279 m (14,039 ft), (1991–2020 normals) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 6.4 (43.5) |
9.5 (49.1) |
14.5 (58.1) |
15.7 (60.3) |
20.5 (68.9) |
25.2 (77.4) |
32.1 (89.8) |
26.4 (79.5) |
23.7 (74.7) |
16.7 (62.1) |
12.7 (54.9) |
7.1 (44.8) |
32.1 (89.8) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | −4.0 (24.8) |
−1.8 (28.8) |
2.7 (36.9) |
8.1 (46.6) |
13.0 (55.4) |
18.5 (65.3) |
22.0 (71.6) |
20.8 (69.4) |
16.8 (62.2) |
8.8 (47.8) |
3.6 (38.5) |
−0.6 (30.9) |
9.0 (48.2) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | −11.7 (10.9) |
−9.0 (15.8) |
−4.4 (24.1) |
0.9 (33.6) |
5.7 (42.3) |
11.3 (52.3) |
15.0 (59.0) |
14.2 (57.6) |
9.9 (49.8) |
1.3 (34.3) |
−4.7 (23.5) |
−9.0 (15.8) |
1.6 (34.9) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −19.3 (−2.7) |
−16.6 (2.1) |
−12.3 (9.9) |
−7.0 (19.4) |
−2.0 (28.4) |
4.1 (39.4) |
8.5 (47.3) |
8.1 (46.6) |
2.8 (37.0) |
−7.0 (19.4) |
−13.0 (8.6) |
−17.1 (1.2) |
−5.9 (21.4) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −36.6 (−33.9) |
−30.2 (−22.4) |
−25.3 (−13.5) |
−17.9 (−0.2) |
−11.2 (11.8) |
−6.6 (20.1) |
−0.6 (30.9) |
−0.4 (31.3) |
−10.0 (14.0) |
−17.0 (1.4) |
−23.5 (−10.3) |
−32.9 (−27.2) |
−36.6 (−33.9) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 1.6 (0.06) |
1.7 (0.07) |
1.1 (0.04) |
1.3 (0.05) |
2.9 (0.11) |
5.8 (0.23) |
22.9 (0.90) |
25.3 (1.00) |
5.5 (0.22) |
1.7 (0.07) |
0.2 (0.01) |
0.6 (0.02) |
70.6 (2.78) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 1.8 | 2.0 | 1.3 | 0.9 | 2.0 | 2.8 | 7.0 | 8.7 | 3.1 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 31.3 |
| Average snowy days | 3.9 | 4.3 | 3.6 | 3.5 | 4.8 | 2.1 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 1.4 | 1.0 | 1.6 | 27.6 |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 34 | 33 | 29 | 27 | 28 | 30 | 37 | 42 | 34 | 24 | 24 | 26 | 31 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 250.1 | 241.3 | 299.1 | 304.9 | 332.8 | 333.6 | 309.9 | 289.9 | 299.7 | 311.1 | 274.7 | 262.6 | 3,509.7 |
| Percent possible sunshine | 78 | 77 | 80 | 78 | 77 | 78 | 72 | 71 | 82 | 90 | 88 | 85 | 80 |
| Source: China Meteorological Administration | |||||||||||||