March 3, 2021 · 1 min read
The most ideal approach to portray the general atmosphere of Kyrgyzstan is continental. Summers are sweltering, winters are cool. Be that as it may, this ought to be taken with a grain of salt. At lower elevations, summers can get quite hot, yet at higher heights, summer isn't as large of an issue. Indeed, even in the most sizzling summers, evenings spent at higher heights get absolute cool. Similarly, winters at lower elevations are substantially more endurable.
The temperature ranges between –4°C and –6°C in January and between 16°C and 24°C in July. The coldest temperatures are in the mountain valleys where –30°C is not uncommon and a record of –53.6°C has been measured, although –14°C to –20°C is more usual. Even in the summer, temperatures may drop as low as –10°C at night on the mountain peaks. Of the major urban centres, Naryn has by far the most extreme climate, with an average minimum temperature in January of –19°C and an average maximum July temperature of 25°C. The national average is 380mm, with March to May, and October and November usually the wetter months. Rainfall is generally fairly low throughout the country – as little as 100mm per annum on the southwest shore of Lake Issyk-Kul, to around 2,000mm in the mountains above the Fergana Valley. There is sometimes heavy snowfall in winter. Clear skies are common and Kyrgyzstan averages more than 300 sunny days per year. Recent years have brought a number of unusual climatic events, which are possibly linked with worldwide climate change and glaciers receding: droughts in the Fergana Valley and elsewhere, low winter snowfall, unusually heavy rain in the spring and an increase in the water level of Lake Issyk-Kul, despite a preceding trend in which the water level was dropping. Late snowfall can mean many passes and even parts of the main Bishkek–Osh highway are under snow until mid-May. April, May and June suffer from the highest amount of rainfall, and this, coupled with melting snow, can sometimes pose risks of landslides and avalanches. Late-summer is really an exceptionally lovely time to be in Kyrgyzstan, particularly if going to southern destinations of modest elevations, for example, the Lake Sary-Chelek area and Arslanbob, which has its walnut harvest during this season. Evenings might be very cool however there are warm days with clear blue skies. Kyrgyzstan's climate is partly influenced by its mountains and partly by its continental location far from any ocean. For the most part, it is continental, with cold winters and warm summers.
