Geography of Vietnam - Climate

Climate

See also: Climate
Vietnam
Climate chart (explanation)
J F M A M J J A S O N D
19 20 12 27 21 13 39 24 18 80 29 21 198 32 22 240 33 25 322 32 26 345 32 25 250 31 24 99 28 23 44 25 19 21 21 16
Average max. and min. temperatures in °C
Precipitation totals in mm
Source: "The Climate of Vietnam". The Embassy of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in the United Kingdom.. http://www.vietnamembassy.org.uk/climate.html.
Imperial conversion
J F M A M J J A S O N D
0.7 68 54 1.1 70 55 1.5 75 64 3.1 84 70 7.8 90 72 9.4 91 77 13 90 79 14 90 77 9.8 88 75 3.9 82 73 1.7 77 66 0.8 70 61
Average max. and min. temperatures in °F
Precipitation totals in inches

Vietnam in the northern regions have a humid subtropical climate, with humidity averaging 84% throughout the year. However, because of differences in latitude and the marked variety of topographical relief, the climate tends to vary considerably from place to place. During the winter or dry season, extending roughly from November to April, the monsoon winds usually blow from the northeast along the China coast and across the Gulf of Tonkin, picking up considerable moisture; consequently the winter season in most parts of the country is dry only by comparison with the rainy or summer season. During the southwesterly summer monsoon, occurring from May to October, the heated air of the Gobi Desert rises, far to the north, inducing moist air to flow inland from the sea and deposit heavy rainfall. The climate in the southern regions especially Ho Chi Minh City and surrounding Mekong Delta is predominantly Tropical savanna climate with high humidity and a distinct wet and dry season.

Annual rainfall is substantial in all regions and torrential in some, ranging from 1,200 to 3,000 millimeters (47.2 to 118.1 in). Nearly 90% of the precipitation occurs during the summer. The average annual temperature is generally higher in the plains than in the mountains and plateaus. Temperatures range from a low of 5 °C (41 °F) in December and January, the coolest months, to more than 37 °C (98.6 °F) in April, the hottest month. Seasonal divisions are more clearly marked in the northern half than in the southern half of the country, where, except in some of the highlands, seasonal temperatures vary only a few degrees, usually in the 21–28 °C (69.8–82.4 °F) range.

Read more about this topic:  Geography Of Vietnam

Famous quotes containing the word climate:

    The climate of Ohio is perfect, considered as the home of an ideal republican people. Climate has much to do with national character.... A climate which permits labor out-of-doors every month in the year and which requires industry to secure comfort—to provide food, shelter, clothing, fuel, etc.—is the very climate which secures the highest civilization.
    Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)

    Culture is the name for what people are interested in, their thoughts, their models, the books they read and the speeches they hear, their table-talk, gossip, controversies, historical sense and scientific training, the values they appreciate, the quality of life they admire. All communities have a culture. It is the climate of their civilization.
    Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)

    Nobody is so constituted as to be able to live everywhere and anywhere; and he who has great duties to perform, which lay claim to all his strength, has, in this respect, a very limited choice. The influence of climate upon the bodily functions ... extends so far, that a blunder in the choice of locality and climate is able not only to alienate a man from his actual duty, but also to withhold it from him altogether, so that he never even comes face to face with it.
    Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)