Ulaanbaatar
Ulaanbaatar, formerly anglicised as Ulan Bator (, , literally "Red Hero"), is the capital and largest city of Mongolia. The city is not part of any aimag (province), and its population was over 1.3 million, almost half of the country's total population. Located in north central Mongolia, the municipality lies at an elevation of about in a valley on the Tuul River. It is the country's cultural, industrial and financial heart, the centre of Mongolia's road network and connected by rail to both the Trans-Siberian Railway in Russia and the Chinese railway system.
Geography of Mongolia
Average temperatures over most of the country are below freezing from November through March and are about freezing in April and October. Winter nights can drop to in most years. Summer extremes reach as high as in the southern Gobi region and in Ulaanbaatar. Most of Mongolia is covered by discontinuous permafrost (grading to continuous at high altitudes), which makes construction, road building, and mining difficult. All rivers and freshwater lakes freeze over in the winter, and smaller streams commonly freeze to the bottom. Ulaanbaatar lies at above sea level in the valley of the Tuul River. Located in the relatively well-watered north, it receives an annual average of of precipitation, almost all of which falls in July and in August. Ulaanbaatar has an average annual temperature of and a frost-free period extending on the average from mid-may to late August.