Mongolia is high, cold, and dry. It has an extreme continental climate with long, cold winters and short summers, during which most precipitation falls.

The country averages 257 cloudless days a year, and it is usually at the center of a region of high atmospheric pressure. Precipitation is highest in the north, which averages 7 to 14 inches per year, and lowest in the south, which receives 4 to 8 inches.

The extreme south is the Gobi, there is little to no rain at all in most years. The name Gobi is a Mongol meaning desert, depression, salt marsh, or steppe. There is only enough vegetation in this region to support camels. Gobi rangelands are fragile and are easily destroyed by overgrazing, which results in expansion of the true desert, a stony waste where not even Bactrian camels can survive.

Mongolia is known to the world as country of "Blue Sky". Along with Southern Siberia this part of Asia has a continental climate, with long, cold, dry winters and brief, mild, and relatively wet summers. More about climate here.

Geography

Mongolia is one of the highest countries in the world, with an average elevation of 5,180 ft (that is almost a mile!). Its highest mountains are in the far west.

The Mongol Altai Nuruu are permanently snowcapped, and their highest peak, Tavanbogd Mountain (4,370m/14,350ft), has a magnificent glacier that towers over Mongolia, Russia and China.

Between the peaks are stark deserts where rain almost never falls. The lowest point, Khuch Lake, in the east, lies at 560m (1,820ft). The extensive grasslands of the steppes covering the center and eastern part of the land with a 360° view are the heart of Mongolia.

The south is the domain of the Gobi Desert (extending down to China) with large sand dune areas and canyons in Eastern Gobi, the "dinosaur graveyard". Much of the rest of Mongolia is grassland, home to Mongolia's famed takhi horses, which Genghis Khan used so successfully in his wars of conquest. 

Mongolia is dotted with about 4,000 lakes (one of which is Lake Huvsgul, which contains 2% of the world's fresh water) and rivers where fishing is abundant. 

Environmental Concerns

After many years of poor politics relating to urban growth and industry, Mongolian officials now see the impact on the environment. The toll on the environment has been costly. Some of the problems now identified are

• Polluted lakes and rivers
• oil spills from barges
• reduced river flow
• Deforestation
• Pesticide runoff in the rivers
• Settlements with untreated sewage
• Severe air polution from coal
• Soil erosion
• Overgrazing of pastures
• Steady expansion of the Gobi desert, threatening area pasturelands
• Increased loss of virgin land
• Increased loss of natural resources and wildlife

The government responded by founding the Ministry of Environmental Protection in 1987 and by giving increased publicity to environmental issues.

New policies are being introduced. Some measures are already taken, such as

• the wool-scouring plant that had been discharging wastes into Hovsgol Nuur was closed (to improve lake and river water quality)
• truck traffic on the winter ice was banned
• the shipping of oil in barges on the lake was stopped.Ulaanbaatar

These are only a few improvements but it is a start. Ongoing efforts from national and international evironmental groups continue to help indentify problems and solutions for this remote area of the world. There is still much work to be done.