BlogWeather Climate Temperature of Nepal

25 Aug 2019 Snowpath

Weather Climate Temperature of Nepal depends on geographical feature and altitude of the country. And generally, has four climatic seasons spring, summer, autumn and winter. Furthermore, some like to sub-divide a cycle of weather and season into six including rainy and pre-winter. Nepal has own official calendar often written as B.S. which is 57 years, 8 months and 16 days ahead of A.D.

Months / Seasons

Mid-January to Mid-March  – Winter
Mid-March to Mid-May – Spring
Mid-May to Mid-July  – Summer
Mid-July to Mid-September – Rainy
Mid-September to Mid-November – Autumn
Mid- November to Mid-January – Pre-Winter

Nepal has two busy trekking seasons. March-May and September-November. But depending trekking region, a trekker can start to plan a trek, a little earlier or a bit later in between those months to scrap the busy season.

The country has three landforms namely Terai in southern side, hilly in middle section and Himalayas in northern side including few Trans-Himalaya region. Roughly, the southern lowland Terai region occupies the altitude from as low as 51m to 1000m with tropical climate. 1000m to 3000m has temperate climate around the hilly region. Above 3000m the country has sub-alpine, alpine and snowline climatic region usually known as Himalayas. The complex geographical feature of Nepal means, one cannot always count on altitude. The hilly region can have altitude of 500m as well, but one clearly can distinguish the difference between Terai and hilly region based on geographical features, human settlements and vegetation around. Sometimes clear-cut regional classification depending only on altitude can be difficult.

Considering, the size of country Nepal has one of the highly diversified climatic zones often based on altitude. Tropical climatic zone is usually below 1000m. Between 1000m to 2000m one can experience sub-tropical climatic zone. Lower-temperate climatic region lies between the altitude of 1700m to 2700m including upper temperate zone between the altitude of 2400m and 3000m. Sub-alpine region is between the altitude of 3000m to 4000m. Above 4000m to 5000m country has alpine climatic zone.  From 5000m and above it has snowline (nival) climatic zone.

Basically, the altitude and geographical features determine the weather climate temperature of Nepal. Lowland Terai experiences extreme temperature and climate. The tropical region is highly humid and temperature can reach 38.5 C and even more during summer. During winter temperature in Terai can drop to 0.5 C. Comparing four places of Terai, Simara received 499.1 mm rainfall during July of 2018. However, it is not the highest rainfall in Terai region. Heat-wave during summer and cold-wave during winter is very common. Heavy rainfall or drought can hit anytime. Flood is the main natural disaster in Terai during rainy season of Nepal. Chitwan, Bardiya, Koshi Tappu are some famous touristic tropical destination in Terai for Jungle Safari and Bird watching. A sample containing weather climate temperature of Nepal in tropical region.

A report from Department of Hydrology and Meteorology in year 2018 from Terai region.

Comparatively, the hilly region has mild weather climate temperature of Nepal. Kathmandu is the Capital and is the first destination tourists and trekker lands. To trek around Annapurna region Pokhara would be the hub for trekker. Two major city most of the time trekker and traveller needs to spend couple of days before starting and after ending the trek . Plus, trekker needs to trek number of days in between sub-tropical, lower temperate and upper temperate region to reach any alpine and snowline climatic zone of Himalayas. Though landslides and flash floods are the main concerning natural calamities in hilly part, trekker never encounter in popular trekking regions.

A report from the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology in the year 2018 from Hilly region.

The deep alpine and snowline region has no systematic compilation of data regarding weather climate temperature of Nepal. Only few data are available with handful researchers. No doubt these regions are extremely cold during winter. Trekker can experience mild wind breezes and scorching sun during day. The Himalayan region receives negligible rainfall or not at all. People descend temporarily down to lower altitude during harsh winter as a seasonal migration. Yak herders, farmers, tea house owners return back as the weather becomes warmer and trekking season starts soon after winter. Heavy snowfall is the major concern in upper part of the trekking region. The following sample generally represents the weather climate temperature of Nepal in alpine and Trans-Himalayan region of Nepal.

A report from Department of Hydrology and Meteorology in year 2018 from sub-alpine region.

Hope, this gives general information on weather climate temperature of Nepal for trekkers and travellers to trek and travel around different part of country.

For trekking in Nepal, Autumn and Spring are the peak season. Usually, the days are clear, bright and sunny. Afternoons have pleasant temperature if weather remains calm. Evenings in upper trekking regions becomes cloudy and temperature can drop significantly. From sub-alpine trekking region, nights and mornings become cold and temperature drops proportionally with each altitude gain. It is believed, each 1000m gain in altitude, the temperature can decrease up to 6 C depending on whether the day is sunny or cloudy. Most of the tea houses in upper trekking region have central heating unit in dining hall. They provide nice beds and blankets that keeps trekker sufficiently warm during night. 

Trekkers sometime needs to start trek early in the morning especially while crossing passes (Thorong-La/ Larkey-La / Cho-La), climbing peaks and ridges (Gokyo ri / Poonhill / Kalapatthar). So, it is highly necessary to keep yourself warm and content with proper clothing and equipment. For any doubt regarding clothing and equipment while trekking in Nepal, always ask your trip organizer. There are plenty of information in internet as well if you are trekking as a solo trekker.

For travel and tour, the itinerary covers mostly a hilly section of the country which is generally around Pokhara and Kathmandu. More importantly, travellers find this region pleasant, with perfect temperature, climate and weather during tourist season. The easy availability of Air Condition (AC) while staying in hotel and driving in the vehicle around cities, one rarely finds these places harsh in terms of temperature.  While, some tropical touristic places like Lumbini, Bardiya, Chitwan can be slightly uneasy for some travellers. Again, it is just slight discomfort rather than unbearable.