Himachal Pradesh spans the western Himalaya from monsoon-drenched lower hills to a cold, dry, rain-shadowed trans-Himalayan desert in Lahaul-Spiti and Kinnaur — a divide almost as sharp as Kerala's coast-versus-Ghats contrast, but produced by the Himalaya's own topography rather than a coastline. For live interactive rainfall, wind and satellite maps over Himachal Pradesh, open VayuMet.
Elevation rises from around 350 m in the Shivalik foothills (Una, the Kangra fringe) through the mid-hills around Shimla, Mandi and Kullu, to over 6,000 m in the high Himalaya of Lahaul-Spiti and Kinnaur. The Pir Panjal and Great Himalayan ranges block most direct monsoon moisture from reaching the trans-Himalayan valleys beyond them, producing a genuinely cold, dry, desert-like climate there despite the same state's lower hills being among the wetter parts of the western Himalaya.
Winter (December-March) brings significant snowfall to the mid- and high hills via western disturbances — the backbone of the state's ski tourism economy and, through snowmelt, its river systems. The monsoon (July-September), arriving slightly later and running shorter than on the plains, drenches the lower and mid hills (Kangra, Mandi) heavily but barely reaches Lahaul-Spiti and Kinnaur beyond the high ranges. Spring and autumn are comparatively short transitional seasons.
Himachal's winter tourism economy and its rivers' summer flow both depend heavily on how many western disturbances arrive each winter and how much snow they deposit on the mid- and high hills.
The Kangra and Mandi belt is among the wetter parts of the western Himalaya, while Lahaul-Spiti and Kinnaur, shielded by the Pir Panjal and Great Himalaya, receive only a fraction of that rain.
Steep river valleys such as the Beas and Sutlej are prone to sudden, highly localised extreme rainfall events (cloudbursts) that can produce fast-moving flash floods with little warning.
Frequencies cited from published IMD/IITM climatology where a source is named inline; day-count figures in the table below are computed directly from the 1951–2025 IMD daily archive.
The table below is a state-wide average across Himachal Pradesh's 12 districts, built from IMD's real 1991-2020 gridded rainfall/temperature normals and 1951-2025 daily archives (not a forecast). Lower hill districts and the high, dry Lahaul-Spiti/Kinnaur belt sit at opposite extremes of this average — use the district climatology tool linked below for any single district's own figures.
| Season | Rainfall (mm) | Rain days | Mean Max / Min (°C) | Typical Hottest / Coldest (°C) | Sky (Sunny·Partly·Overcast days) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter Jan–Feb | 81.8 | 21.3 | 10.4 / 0.2 | 13.7 / -1.5 | 10.8·47.4·0.8 |
| Pre-Monsoon (Summer) Mar–May | 105.5 | 36.9 | 21.4 / 9.2 | 26.8 / 2.7 | 29.9·61.5·0.6 |
| Monsoon (SW) Jun–Sep | 769.2 | 87.8 | 24.9 / 16.0 | 28.1 / 11.9 | 49.9·72.0·0.1 |
| Post-Monsoon Oct–Dec | 35.3 | 14.5 | 16.6 / 4.9 | 23.2 / -0.8 | 55.2·36.8·0.0 |
State figures are a simple average across 12 member districts (IMD Pune 1991–2020 normal; day-count and sky figures from real 1951–2025 daily archives — see District Climatology tool for any single district's own numbers, which can differ substantially from this state average).
Computed directly from the real IMD 1951–2025 daily gridded archive — not a forecast, and not the same as a single-station record. IMD's gridded temperature is 1°×1° (~111 km/cell) and rainfall is 0.25°×0.25° (~25 km/cell); both are spatial analyses of many station observations; a famous single-station record (e.g. a specific town's all-time hottest day) will typically read higher than the grid-cell value shown here, since one station reading isn't smoothed over a ~25–111 km box. "Place" is the nearest district to the grid cell where the extreme occurred, not necessarily the exact spot.
Monsoon (Jul-Sep). The Beas and Sutlej valleys are prone to sudden, highly localised cloudburst events that can produce fast-moving, dangerous flash floods.
Monsoon (Jul-Sep). The state's extensive hill-road network is highly exposed to monsoon-triggered landslides.
Winter (Dec-Mar). High-altitude areas face avalanche risk and periodic heavy snowfall that can cut off road access for days.
Long-term. The state's high-Himalayan glacial areas fall within the broader Himalayan glacial-hazard zone of growing scientific and disaster-management concern.
Click a district on the District Climatology tool or search it on the 10-day forecast page for its own normals — the grid below is the full current list (India's Local Government Directory codes, cross-checked against the latest state reorganisation).