Uttarakhand, carved from Uttar Pradesh in 2000, is the source region of the Ganga and Yamuna and home to the char dham Himalayan pilgrimage circuit — a combination that places large seasonal pilgrim populations directly within a zone of serious monsoon flash-flood, cloudburst and landslide risk. For live interactive rainfall, wind and satellite maps over Uttarakhand, open VayuMet.
The state divides into the Garhwal and Kumaon Himalayan regions in the north, rising to major peaks and glaciers that feed the Ganga (from Gangotri) and Yamuna (from Yamunotri), and a narrow Terai-Bhabar plain fringe in the south (Haridwar, Udham Singh Nagar) bordering Uttar Pradesh.
Winter (December-March) brings significant snowfall to the mid- and high hills via western disturbances, important for both tourism and river flow. The monsoon (July-September) is a major and sometimes extreme rain event on the lower and mid Himalaya, with a well-documented history of cloudbursts, flash floods and landslides on the state's steep terrain. The Terai fringe in the south follows a more typical Gangetic-plain seasonal cycle.
Uttarakhand's steep Himalayan valleys are highly prone to sudden, extreme, highly localised rainfall events. The June 2013 Kedarnath disaster, triggered by an exceptionally intense multi-day rainfall event compounded by a glacial lake breach, remains one of the deadliest Himalayan flood disasters in India's modern history.
Western disturbances bring snowfall to the mid- and high hills, important for winter tourism and for sustaining river flow through summer via snowmelt.
The February 2021 Chamoli disaster, triggered by a glacier and rock-ice avalanche that caused sudden flash flooding down the Rishiganga and Dhauliganga rivers, illustrated a distinct class of high-Himalayan hazard separate from ordinary monsoon flooding.
Steep terrain and heavy monsoon rain make landslides a routine hazard on the state's hill roads, including those used by the char dham pilgrimage circuit.
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 Uttarakhand's 13 districts, built from IMD's real 1991-2020 gridded rainfall/temperature normals and 1951-2025 daily archives (not a forecast). The Himalayan north and the Terai plain fringe in the south differ substantially from 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 | 64.8 | 15.2 | 13.1 / 2.3 | 16.2 / 0.5 | 13.9·44.8·0.3 |
| Pre-Monsoon (Summer) Mar–May | 93.0 | 30.9 | 22.9 / 11.0 | 27.7 / 4.7 | 34.7·57.0·0.3 |
| Monsoon (SW) Jun–Sep | 870.6 | 94.9 | 24.8 / 16.9 | 28.0 / 13.7 | 28.8·90.8·2.3 |
| Post-Monsoon Oct–Dec | 36.2 | 11.1 | 18.2 / 6.8 | 23.7 / 1.3 | 58.2·33.8·0.0 |
State figures are a simple average across 13 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). Steep Himalayan valleys are highly prone to sudden, extreme rainfall events; the 2013 Kedarnath disaster remains the most significant recent example.
Monsoon (Jul-Sep). Hill roads, including those used by the char dham pilgrimage circuit, face frequent monsoon-triggered landslide disruption.
Any season, low-frequency high-severity. The 2021 Chamoli disaster showed that high-Himalayan glacial and rock-ice hazards can strike outside the normal monsoon season with severe downstream consequences.
Winter (Dec-Mar). High-altitude areas face avalanche risk and periodic heavy snowfall that can disrupt access.
Winter, Terai fringe. The southern Terai plain shares the broader Indo-Gangetic winter fog belt affecting neighbouring Uttar Pradesh.
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).