Nagaland sits entirely within the Naga Hills and Patkai range along the Myanmar border, its elevation and rainfall generally increasing from the lower Dimapur valley in the west to the higher ridges further east. For live interactive rainfall, wind and satellite maps over Nagaland, open VayuMet.
The state is dominated by the Naga Hills, part of the broader Patkai range system that continues into Myanmar, with elevation generally rising from the comparatively low Dimapur valley in the west toward higher ridges closer to the international border in the east.
The monsoon (roughly May/June-September) brings substantial orographic rainfall across the hills. Winter is cool, with the highest elevations occasionally seeing light snow. Pre-monsoon brings frequent thunderstorm activity.
Nagaland's hill terrain produces significant orographic enhancement of monsoon rainfall, generally increasing with elevation toward the east.
Steep terrain and heavy monsoon rainfall combine to make landslides a routine and significant disruption to Nagaland's hill-road connectivity each year.
Pre-monsoon convective storms bring damaging hail and wind, with agricultural impact across the hill districts.
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 Nagaland's 12 districts, built from IMD's real 1991-2020 gridded rainfall/temperature normals and 1951-2025 daily archives (not a forecast). 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 | 35.1 | 15.1 | 20.8 / 8.7 | 23.2 / 6.1 | 29.2·29.8·0.0 |
| Pre-Monsoon (Summer) Mar–May | 324.3 | 59.0 | 25.6 / 15.8 | 28.0 / 11.0 | 11.4·76.2·4.4 |
| Monsoon (SW) Jun–Sep | 880.9 | 109.1 | 27.5 / 20.9 | 28.4 / 19.7 | 2.6·102.9·16.5 |
| Post-Monsoon Oct–Dec | 109.3 | 25.2 | 23.8 / 12.9 | 27.9 / 6.4 | 30.7·60.3·1.0 |
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 (May/Jun-Sep). Nagaland's steep hill-road network is highly exposed to monsoon-triggered landslides, a chronic connectivity issue.
Monsoon (May/Jun-Sep). Narrow hill streams can rise quickly during intense rain.
Pre-monsoon (Mar-May). Severe pre-monsoon thunderstorms can damage crops across the hill districts.
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).