The Jingpeng pass weather

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Updated Jluy 2004

The weather at Linxi,

30 km east of the pass, can be found here. /Temperature) andhere.(Precipitation)

Weather statistics at Jingpeng

MONTH	PRECIPITATION IN mm	Temperature in C
1	2.0	-16.1
2	4.8	-12.8
3	8.2	-5.1
4	11.3	4.9
5	34.5	12.5
6	61.0	17.4
7	134.4	19.7
8	79.7	18.5
9	42.7	11.9
10	19.0	4.4
11	6.1	-5.4
12	2.9	-14.1

Rain or snow:

In general you can expect some rain during the summer: June to September. The winter brings minimal precipitation. This means you may get snow or not. Getting snow at the pass for extended periods is a matter of LUCK. There is definitely more snow to the west, from Haoluku to Baiqi.

How cloudy or clear is it?

Difficult to say. In summer, naturally, you have more clouds. Especially after noon, as at least part of the rain comes with thunderstorms in the afternoon. However, I have had all kinds of weather all over the year. I have no idea if the winter may be more clear. Probably it is so. The air is usually clearest just after snow or rain.

In general, if there is any precipitation from October to March, it will probably fall as snow, and then melt away or blow away in a few days. A snow cover over the whole area is rare. However, as snow blow to lee sides, it may accumulate there to considerable depth. Keep away from larger steep snowfields, as this snow is very unstable and may start moving down the slope with you (avalanche).

From March to September, you will probably have non-freezing temperatures in the afternoon. November 1 to mid February will probably have continuous freezing temperatures all day.

For the background in your photos, how does the landscape look like?

Yellow, brown and gray from middle of October until middle of May. Green from Middle of May until July. In August, the sunflowers are flowering yellow, but the grass on the mountains turns yellow also. In September, everything turns yellow, as the crops get ripe. However, the trees are still green. Trees turn yellow at the pass at the end of September, at Lindong in early October. At this time, the farmers fetch the crops from their fields, which gradually turns everything into the typical winter landscape.

Sandstorms

There are sandstorms sometimes. They are dangerous for your camera equipment.. What about the season: I do not know. I have had one or two days of sandstorms in every season. If you get one, the probably best idea is not to take photos at all and keep your photo equipment in a tight plactic bag, or use a cheap camera only.

The presence of other tourists, making travelling difficult:

Chinese New Year (some time between mid January and end of February), as well as the Chinese National day (1st October and a few days after) have crowded trains. At the Jingpeng pass, some hotels may be crowded in the middle of winter if large groups of foreign railway fans come and visit. In July and August, they me be crowded by Chinese tourists.

Thunderstorms in summer

If you visit JiTong in summer, be aware of the short but heavy rainfalls during thunderstorms. A thunderstorm may be as short as half an hour of intense rainfall. A group reports: just 15 minutes later, the river along the railway line was filled with water and muddy floods rushed down the river, making any passage impossible. Additionally, the flooding destroyed numerous sections close of the line close to Daban and all traffic had to be halted for 12 hours - which forced the passenger train to run during daylight on the sections normally served at night...