The regional climate of the Alti mountains is severely continental: because of the influence of the great Asiatic anticyclone, or high-pressure area, the winter is long and bitterly cold. January temperatures range from 7 °F (−14 °C) in the foothills to −26 °F (−32 °C) in the sheltered hollows of the east, while in the Chu steppes temperatures can plunge to a bitter −76 °F (−60 °C). There are occasional tracts of the permafrost (ground that has a temperature below freezing for two or more years) that coats great stretches of northern Siberia. July temperatures are warm and even hot—daytime highs often reach 75 °F (24 °C), sometimes up to 104 °F (40 °C) on the lower slopes—but summers are short and cool in most higher elevations. In the west, particularly at elevations between 5,000 and 6,500 feet (1,500 and 2,000 metres), precipitation is high: 20 to 40 inches (about 500 to 1,000 mm) and as much as 80 inches (2,000 mm) may fall throughout the year. The total decreases to one-third that amount farther east, and some areas have no snow at all. Glaciers coat the flanks of the highest peaks; some 1,500 in number, they cover an area of roughly 250 square miles (650 square km). Alti Mountains, Mongolia, 2015

Kazakh man.

Chinggis Square, formally Grand Chinggis Khaan Square, and previously known as Sükhbaatar Square is the central square of Mongolia's capital Ulaanbaatar. The official name was changed in 2013 in honor of the founding father of the Mongolian nation. A large colonnade monument to Genghis Khan, as well as to Ögedei Khan, and Kublai Khan dominates the square's north side directly in front of the Saaral Ordon (Government Palace). The center of the square features an equestrian statue of Damdin Sükhbaatar, one of the leaders of Mongolia's 1921 revolution. Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, 2015