Qumarlêb County
county
Qumarlêb County (Tibetan: ཆུ་དམར་ལེབ་རྫོང་།; Chinese: 曲麻莱县) is a county in the northeast of the Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, south-central Qinghai province, China.
Geography and climate
With an elevation of around 4,200 metres (14,000 ft), Qumarlêb County has an alpine climate (Köppen ETH), with long, frigid winters, and short, cool and rainy summers. Average low temperatures are below freezing from mid September to late May and below −17.8 °C or 0 °F from early December to mid-February. However, due to the wide diurnal temperature variation, average highs are only below freezing from mid/late November until early March. Despite frequent rain during summer, when a majority of days sees rain, no month has less than 50 percent of possible sunshine; with monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 51 percent in June to 78 percent in November, the county seat receives 2,782 hours of bright sunshine annually. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from −12.8 °C (9.0 °F) in January to 9.7 °C (49.5 °F) in July, while the annual mean is −1.2 °C (29.8 °F). Over three-fourths of the annual precipitation of 406 mm (16.0 in) is delivered from June to September.
Affected by global warming, the rate of temperature increase has increased significantly in the past 10 years. In August 2022, the hottest month in history was recorded, with an average temperature of 13.9 °C (57.0 °F), and the highest temperature ever recorded was 25.6 °C (78.1 °F) on the 9th of that month. There was also an 21.1 °C (70.0 °F) average high in August 2016.
The public source identifies “Qumarlêb County” as county. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Qumarlêb, County and county.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Qumarlêb County”, the useful work is to connect “county” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 9, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q340203. Authority coordinates are 34.128, 95.800. None of the 2 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2022 and 2016.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Qumarlêb County”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Qumarlêb County primary sources, Qumarlêb County archive and Qumarlêb research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Qumarlêb County”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Qumarlêb County” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.