The Surkhandarya natural-geographic district

The valley’s climate is dry subtropical: summer is long, sunny, hot and dry, winter short and mild. The July mean is +28.2°C at Denau and still higher at Sherabad; about +50°C was observed in Termez (1914, the highest recorded temperature in Uzbekistan). The January mean on the plain is about +2.8°C, –6°C in mountains at 2500–3000 m, and when cold air enters it may fall to –20…–25°C. Precipitation is uneven: 133–230 mm on the southern plain, 500–600 mm on mountain slopes and up to 800–900 mm on the southern slope of the Hisar; 46–48 percent falls in winter, 43–44 percent in spring and only 1–2 percent in summer. The biggest rivers are the Surkhandarya and Sherabaddarya. The Surkhandarya forms where the Topolondarya joins the Karatag and flows 196 km to the Amudarya; it is fed by snow and ice. The Sherabaddarya (186 km) is fed by snow and rain and is fullest in April–May. The South Surkhan (800 million m³) and Uchkizil reservoirs have been built; hot mineral water from deep layers reaches +60…+70°C. Soils: light grey to 500 m, alluvial-meadow in floodplains, sandy in the south; ordinary and dark grey at 500–1200 m; mountain brown higher; yaylov above 2500 m. The warm climate lets pomegranates, figs, persimmons, citrus and other heat-loving fruits grow, and Babatag is famed for its khandon pistachio. Animals: wolf, fox, ibex, deer, common myna; in the tugai Bukhara deer, boar and pheasant. The Surkhandarya Reserve protects Amudarya tugai and the Kugitang mountain landscape.