Climate of Xinjiang

A well-known saying describes accurately the climatic features m Xinjiang. It goes: "One wears fur coat in the morning and silk shirt around noon. People eat watermelon around a stove." Xinjiang is far away from oceans and surrounded by high mountains. It has a typical dry continental climate in the temperate zone.The annual average temperature is 10.4 ℃.The winter is long and cold, summer is short and hot. Weather changes radically in spring and autumn. Turpan Basin in this region is the hottest place in China. The temperature there is as high as 49.6 ℃. The temperature in Koktokay in northern part of the region is as low as -51.5℃, only higher than that in Mohe in Heilongjiang Province.It is very hot during the daytime but very cool at night.There is a difference of 10 degrees in one day.