Favorable temperature for camping and dog

[Nehale]

I am planning to ride my bicycle from Greece to Mongolia, starting in the winter of 2021. I will be cycling with my 11 kg dog, that sits in a box behind the saddle. I've done so before, and passed the Alps, the Montenegro mountains, Bosnia and Albania, so I know about climbing 1500 meters a day, about going on terrible roads and about temperatures going up to 38 degrees Centigrade. When the road is toot steep or in a bad shape, the dog walks next to the bike for a few kilometers.

The rough outline of my itinerary is:
Greece + Bulgaria (1200 km): January
Turkey (2200 km): Jan + feb February + March
Georgia and Azerbaidzjan (750 km): April
Aqtau (KZ) -Nukus (UZ) (1000 km): May
Nukus (UZ) - Bishkek (KYR) (1200 km): June
Kazakhstan-Mongolia (4000 km): July, August, September, October

I am looking for the best season and best temperature to go. Planning is quite a puzzle, because of the extremely hot or cold weather in some areas. This is the puzzle:
-I expect the Kaukasus mountains to be too snowy to ride in the winter, so I don't want to leave too early
-I heard temperatures can drop dramatically at night in the Kazakh/Uzbek desert, even in April. I will be camping most of the time, so I don't want
-The desert between the Caspian Sea can bee extermely hot in the summer. I want to survive myself, and I am concerned for my dog. So not too late
-I expect the weather to be harsh in the Mongolian desert as the fall proceeds, Therefore I don't want to leave to late.

I will be camping, so I want to go in a season when temperatures don't drop below -20 degrees Centigrade (-4 degrees Fahrenheit). I have traveled with the dog before with temperatures going up to 38 degrees Centigrade (105 degrees Fahrenheit). It is a heat resistent dog that runs half marathons with me, but 40 degrees is too hot, Can anyone tell me about the weather conditions in the West Kazakhstan desert at night and daytime in April-June, and in Mongolia in September-Oktober?

[Christian77]

That Nukus to Bishkek route in June will be giving you temps in the mid-30s until you pass Osh and start climbing the mountains that separate southern/northern Kyrgyzstan, with a chance at getting near 40.

[Pamirski]

There is a planning website you could try to get an estimation. I find the idea cool to combine route planner with climate information. But climate is not weather, there might be unexpected heat at some time. In 2013 we had 30 degrees on Pamir plateau (Murghab).

[mazeno]

my "hot" experiences
atyrau/aktau/nukus/bukhara, july/sept
2012 - 5 days over 55C
2014 - 7 days 45C
2017 - 7 days 40-45C
2019 - 8 days 40-45C
so i think may is ok for western kzh
april maybe steppe floods
june/july maybe steppe fires (thunderbolts result, in may it is too early for fires as the steppe is still green, not dry)
but in have seen fresh fired steppe even in sept (2017) and aug (2012)

[Lovetheworld]

The part in Uzbekistan is tricky. We definitely had 40 degrees, even though we were only slightly later there than your planning, and it doesn't cool down in the night.

When you leave Kyrgystan into Kazakhstan, that part of Kazakhstan can get pretty hot too.

You won't get -20 in October (probably) but you will defenitly get some nights below freezing, or waking up with snow, but probably not too much.

[bwv812]

my "hot" experiences
atyrau/aktau/nukus/bukhara, july/sept
2012 - 5 days over 55C
2014 - 7 days 45C
2017 - 7 days 40-45C
2019 - 8 days 40-45C
so i think may is ok for western kzh
april maybe steppe floods
june/july maybe steppe fires (thunderbolts result, in may it is too early for fires as the steppe is still green, not dry)
but in have seen fresh fired steppe even in sept (2017) and aug (2012)

I am pretty sure it has never reached 55°C in the region, let alone for 5 days in 2012, given that the highest undisputed temperature on Earth has been under 55°. That leaves the rest of the information similarly suspect.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_w ... r_recorded

[mazeno]

sure
you know better
and wiki is the best source ever
as it has sensors everywhere
even in beineu and jaslik

(i have noticed a bit more than 60C on morocco-algierian border in 2010 but i'm not reliable to bwv, esp for i don't exist on facebook and so)

[Lovetheworld]

Well, it is easy to mess up a temperature reading in many ways, but it does not surprise me to see many events of above 40 degrees going to 45 degrees and possibly over.
I once went for holiday in May in France and we had 40 degrees and possibly more, even new cars were breaking down. What it means is you can get unlucky with the weather everywhere, and in that area it means 45 or more.

I think the conclusion should be that there is a very reasonable chance of the weather getting to hot for the dog. So think of a backup plan or exit strategy when you have that. Like staying in hotel with AC, or spend money on transportation to cooler area. However, hotels and transportation aren't always easy with a dog.

Mainly focussed risk on Uzbekistan and Western part of Kazakhstan, although the Southern part of Kazakhstan where you enter from Kirgistan can get hot too.
And it would help to just have a simple way of giving the dog some shade. And having a water spray.

[bwv812]

Well, Mazeno, I'd say I'll take wikipedia's word over yours any day. Heck, you might notice that wikipedia even has sources for their data... and none of them are facebook!

Interesting that you noticed temperatures in Morocco that nobody else did. I guess when you turn facebook off the temperature goes up.

[mazeno]

bwv:
ok, you may tell nehale it is ok for cycling and for the dog in kzh/uzb summer as wiki says so.
but i'll stay with my experiences and confirm him may, not june, july, aug.

--
according to wiki.
my close family member has died on july 7th (years ago) in an avalanche (info based on many "reliable sources"). in fact he died on 6th, hit by one casual stone. this info, given to me 1 hour after the accident on 6th july, was based by three direct witnesses (climbers) and mountain resque and later by a prosecutor, too. but wiki says avalanche on 7th and it is not to change beacuse of the "reliable sources".
so, when you turn the wiki on, i'm sure the temperature goes down.
o, especially while steppe ablaze.
--
edit:
wiki, from the page you quoted above:
Each of these records is understood to be the record value officially observed, as these records may have been exceeded before modern weather instrumentation was invented, or in remote areas without an official weather station.

- - - - -

nehale:
my advice (if bwv lets me :P):
make a kind of a rooftop attached to your bike (similar to this riksha in nepal):



high temperatures are much more easy tolerated if you are in a even minimal shadow. kzh and uzb is very dry so even very high temperatures are not so tiring as e.g. in wet monsoon india. it is easier to breath in dry 50C than in 35C and almost 100% humidity.
water sources hint:
even small stations along railways usually have water, but unfortunately railways are not along (very close to) main roads.