Climate and average weather in Pokhara

In Pokhara, the summers are humid, warm, wet, and mostly cloudy and the winters are cool and partly cloudy.

Best: mid March to late May

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Pokhara typically varies from 2°C to 24°C, and is rarely below -2°C or above 26°C. July is the hottest month of the year, while January is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best times of year to visit Pokhara for warm-weather activities are from mid March to late May and early October to late November.

Hottest
Jul
24°
Coldest
Jan
Wettest
Jul
1127 mm
Driest
Dec
105 mm
Rain / yr
4837 mm
260 wet days
Daylight
10.2–13.8 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
1,008 m
28.3°N
Clearest
Oct
46% cloud

Pokhara is metropolitan city of Nepal.

Air quality
Very high
PM2.5 36.1 µg/m³ · 2020
Density
10,715/km²
people per km²
Founded
1962

Air quality: WHO Ambient Air Quality Database. Density & description: Wikidata (CC0), GeoNames.

Pokhara weather by month, at a glance

The whole year in one picture — sky, rain, humidity, temperature and travel score. Click any band to jump to its full chart.

Each stripe is one measure across the whole year, stacked so a single day reads top to bottom. The sky band runs overcast grey on top down to clear blue at the base — more blue means sunnier — followed by the rainfall curve, the humidity band, a temperature strip that tints each stretch of the year by how warm its average high is, and the travel-score line at the foot. Scan straight down any date to read that day across every measure at once; the score climbs highest around mid March to late May.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

Daily average highs and lows in Pokhara, from 1991–2020 of climate data. The shaded bands show the range most days fall in — 10th to 90th percentile.

The hot season lasts 6.2 months, from April 10 to October 15, with daily high temperatures above 22°C. The hottest month of the year in Pokhara is July, with an average high of 24°C and low of 19°C.

The cool season lasts 2.1 months, from December 11 to February 12, with daily high temperatures below 15°C. The coldest month of the year in Pokhara is January, with an average low of 2°C and high of 13°C.

Days typically run about 9°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 13°C) in March.

10°20°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan132
Feb153
Mar196
Apr229
May2313
Jun2418
Jul2419
Aug2419
Sep2417
Oct2112
Nov188
Dec155

Average hourly temperature in Pokhara

A compact picture of the whole year, hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled average temperature. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

Read left to right for the day of the year and top to bottom for the hour of the day; the color is the modeled temperature, cool blues through to hot reds on the same scale as the other charts. A vertical slice is a single day's swing — coolest just before dawn, warmest in the mid-afternoon — while a horizontal slice follows one hour across the seasons. The darker overlay marks night and the lighter one the twilight around sunrise and sunset. Colors run warmest on July afternoons, near 24°C, and coldest before dawn in January, near C.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM

Pokhara weather by month

Every month at a glance. Click a month for its detailed page.

MonthHigh / Low (°C)Rainfall (mm)Wet daysDaylight (hours)Travel score
Jan13° / 13015.710.43.3
Feb15° / 17019.2113.6
Mar19° / 15919.711.84.8
Apr22° / 16316.512.75.7
May23° / 13°38223.513.44.9
Jun24° / 18°6892813.83.9
Jul24° / 19°112730.713.63.5
Aug24° / 19°96629.8133.6
Sep24° / 17°60327.512.24.0
Oct21° / 12°19719.111.35.4
Nov18° / 14716.210.65.0
Dec15° / 10514.510.24.0

Chance of rain

How likely it is to rain on a typical day, and how that shifts across the wetter and drier seasons.

Pokhara gets about 4837 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is very wet, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 4.8 months, from around May 13 to Oct 6, peaking in July at about 100% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Dec 25.

July is the wettest month by volume, with 1127 mm over about 31 wet days; December is the driest, with 105 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%110%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetJul 2 · 100%Dec 25 · 43%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan5116
Feb6819
Mar6320
Apr5617
May7524
Jun9428
Jul9931
Aug9630
Sep9028
Oct6319
Nov5416
Dec4715

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Pokhara collects about 4837 mm of rain across 260 wet days — roughly 403 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. July is the wettest month with 1127 mm, while December is the driest at just 105 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 58% of the year’s total.

0501001502002503003504004505005506006507007508008509009501000105011001150120012501300JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec1301701591633826891127966603197147105
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan13016
Feb17019
Mar15920
Apr16317
May38224
Jun68928
Jul112731
Aug96630
Sep60328
Oct19719
Nov14716
Dec10515

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

How often the daytime sky is clear, partly cloudy or overcast.

In Pokhara, the average share of the sky covered by clouds shows significant seasonal variation over the course of the year.

The clearer part of the year begins around September 27 and lasts for 8.2 months, ending around June 3. The clearest month is October, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 67% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around June 4 and lasts for 3.8 months, ending around September 26. The cloudiest month is July, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 98% of the time.

0%100%10%90%20%80%30%70%40%60%50%50%60%40%70%30%80%20%90%10%100%0%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecOct 19 · 73%Aug 8 · 1%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudierclearer
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan4951
Feb4654
Mar5941
Apr6139
May5149
Jun2476
Jul298
Aug397
Sep2674
Oct6733
Nov5446
Dec5050

Daylight, sunrise and sunset

DaylightNight

Hours of daylight through the year, with sunrise and sunset times.

The gold band is daylight — sunrise runs along its lower edge, sunset along the upper — so it widens toward summer and pinches toward winter, with night the dark area above and below. The longest day, around June 10, brings about 13 h 48 min of light; the shortest, around January 1, only 10 h 12 min — a swing of roughly 3 h 36 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan10.47:075:30
Feb11.06:545:54
Mar11.86:256:13
Apr12.75:496:30
May13.45:236:47
Jun13.85:167:03
Jul13.65:267:04
Aug13.05:436:44
Sep12.25:586:08
Oct11.36:155:34
Nov10.66:375:12
Dec10.26:595:12

Sunny days

How many genuinely sunny days each month brings — days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — banded into plain-language zones.

Pokhara averages about 7 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 0 and 15 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 7.7 months, from around Oct 2 to May 23. The sunniest month is October, with roughly 12 sunny days (mixed).

The greyest month is July, down near 0 sunny days — about 100% fewer than the October peak.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyersunniergloomymixedbrightOct 3115 daysJul 70 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan10Mixed
Feb7Gloomy
Mar10Mixed
Apr12Mixed
May9Mixed
Jun3Gloomy
Jul0Gloomy
Aug0Gloomy
Sep3Gloomy
Oct13Mixed
Nov11Mixed
Dec10Mixed

Humidity comfort

DryComfortableHumidMuggyOppressiveMiserable

Share of days at each humidity comfort level, based on the dew point — the measure that tracks how muggy it actually feels.

Humidity comfort is graded by the dew point — the temperature at which the air would be fully saturated — because it tracks how muggy it actually feels far better than relative humidity does. A low dew point feels dry and crisp; a high one feels sticky and oppressive no matter the reading on a humidity gauge.

In Pokhara, how humid it feels changes dramatically over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 4.8 months, from around May 17 to October 9. The muggiest month is June, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 92% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around October 10 to May 16, and March is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 99% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecMar 6 · 100%Jun 28 · 0%comfortabledrymuggyhumidcomfortablehumidcomfortable
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)
Jan1000000
Feb1000000
Mar972100
Apr7621300
May21413080
Jun1727650
Jul001981
Aug005940
Sep1546480
Oct42322420
Nov928000
Dec1000000

Wind

Average wind speed through the year, banded into plain-language speed zones so a number reads as 'breezy' or 'calm' without knowing the scale.

This is the average sustained wind speed at the standard 10 metres above open ground — the steady flow a weather station reports, not the sharper gusts that come and go, which can run half again as fast. It's the number that says whether a place is generally breezy or calm.

Wind in Pokhara is steady company: average speeds sit near 4 km/hcalm — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmApr 9 · 4 km/hAug 22 · 3 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan4calm
Feb4calm
Mar4calm
Apr4calm
May4calm
Jun3calm
Jul3calm
Aug3calm
Sep3calm
Oct3calm
Nov4calm
Dec4calm

Hazard calendar for Pokhara

In seasonPeak

When the seasonal hazards worth planning around — the rainy season, tropical-cyclone risk and dust haze — are active through the year.

Pokhara's monsoon runs June–September, when most of the year's rain falls.

Monsoon
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

Best time to visit Pokhara

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

To characterize how pleasant the weather is in Pokhara throughout the year, we compute two travel scores — one for general sightseeing, one for beach and pool weather.

Around mid May, Pokhara is still near the tail of its best-weather window — great conditions with the peak-season crowds already thinning.

Inferred from the travel-score curve; month-by-month visitor numbers are a planned addition.

The travel score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 18°C and 28°C. Based on this score, the best times of year to visit Pokhara for general outdoor tourist activities run from mid March to late May and again from early October to late November, with a peak score in the second week of April.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationApr 14 · 5.8

The travel score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

Travel score (0–10)Rating
Jan3.3poor
Feb3.6fair
Mar4.8fair
Apr5.7good
May4.9fair
Jun3.9fair
Jul3.5poor
Aug3.6fair
Sep4.1fair
Oct5.4fair
Nov5.0fair
Dec4.0fair

The beach/pool score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 24°C and 34°C. Based on this score, the best times of year to visit Pokhara for hot-weather activities run from early April to late June and again from late August to late October, with a peak score in the third week of April.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationApr 20 · 4.1

The beach/pool score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

What to pack for Pokhara, by month

EssentialRecommendedOptional

Month by month, what's worth putting in the bag — from the temperature range, rain chance, sun and wind. Tap a month for a quick packing note.

For a warm-season trip around July (highs near 24°C), the essentials are light clothes and rain gear. In the cold season around January (highs near 13°C), pack a warm layer and rain gear.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In July, Pokhara sees daytime highs around 24°C and nights near 19°C. Pack rain gear. Worth having: light clothes. About 31 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Pokhara by month

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Clear-sky midday UV index through the year, shaded by the WHO exposure levels — how much sun protection each month calls for.

Under clear skies, the midday UV index in Pokhara peaks around August 12 at about 13 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near December 22 at about 5 (moderate).

The index reaches 3 or more — the level where the WHO recommends sun protection — every month of the year.

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModerateHighExtremeVery highModerateAug 12UV 13Dec 22UV 5
UV index (midday)Level
Jan5Moderate
Feb6High
Mar11Extreme
Apr11Extreme
May12Extreme
Jun12Extreme
Jul13Extreme
Aug13Extreme
Sep12Extreme
Oct9Very high
Nov5High
Dec5Moderate

Average hourly UV index in Pokhara

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Modeled clear-sky UV for every hour of every day — when in the day sun protection actually matters.

The whole year hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled clear-sky UV index — the midday peak scaled down as the sun sits lower in the sky. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

UV falls off far faster than brightness as the sun drops, so even in August the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 8.5 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 6.5 hours reach 6 or more. Mornings and late afternoons stay comparatively gentle year round.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM
UV ≥ 3 (h/day)UV ≥ 6 (h/day)
Jan4.50
Feb5.50
Mar7.55.5
Apr85.5
May8.56.5
Jun8.56.5
Jul97
Aug8.56.5
Sep86
Oct6.54.5
Nov50
Dec40

Air quality in Pokhara by month

GoodModeratePoorUnhealthyVery unhealthy

Average fine-particle pollution (PM2.5) through the year — so you can see which months the air is worst, not just the yearly average.

Air quality in Pokhara is worst in January — around 55 µg/m³ PM2.5 (unhealthy), about 4.1× the cleanest month (July, 13 µg/m³).

Seasonal pattern from CAMS reanalysis, scaled to Pokhara's WHO annual average of 36.1 µg/m³.

0204060JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecPoorModeratePoorJan 1854 µg/m³Jul 2214 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan55Unhealthy
Feb51Poor
Mar48Poor
Apr48Poor
May36Poor
Jun28Moderate
Jul13Moderate
Aug16Moderate
Sep19Moderate
Oct30Moderate
Nov41Poor
Dec49Poor
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayReliably frost-free (≥90%)

Pokhara is mild enough that a frost-free day stays more likely than not even in midwinter. Nights are reliably above freezing from about February 23 to December 22 (303 days); outside that window a hard frost is an occasional risk.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecreliably frost-freeFeb 2390%Dec 2290%
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan7831
Feb8722
Mar980
Apr1000
May1000
Jun1000
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep1000
Oct1000
Nov990
Dec939

Growing degree days

Degree days (base 10°C)Frost-free shaded

Growing degree days tally heat above 10°C: each day adds however many degrees its average temperature runs over that threshold, and cold days add nothing. Pokhara banks about 2,165 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around July.

05001,0001,5002,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan0
Feb1
Mar70
Apr167
May254
Jun326
Jul368
Aug364
Sep316
Oct206
Nov84
Dec9

Solar energy

Average daily shortwave solar energy reaching the ground, banded into brightness zones so the number means something at a glance.

Solar energy is how much sunlight actually reaches the ground each day, measured in kilowatt-hours per square metre (kWh/m²) — the combined effect of how long the sun is up, how high it climbs, and how much cloud gets in the way. It's the raw fuel a solar panel has to work with: for scale, 1 kWh/m² a day is dim and wintry, while 7+ is desert-bright.

Pokhara receives about 4.4 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 3.4 and 6.2 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 4.0 months, from around Feb 18 to Jun 18. The brightest month is April, averaging about 6.2 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is July, down near 3.5 kWh/m² — roughly 44% less than the April peak.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseApr 186.2 kWhJul 173.4 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan3.6Moderate
Feb4.3Bright
Mar5.5Bright
Apr6.2Intense
May5.9Bright
Jun4.6Bright
Jul3.4Moderate
Aug3.5Moderate
Sep4.0Moderate
Oct4.5Bright
Nov3.9Moderate
Dec3.5Moderate

Where is Pokhara?

Pokhara sits at 28.3°N, 84.0°E, 1,008 m above sea level, in Nepal. The nearest listed city is Bāgluṅ, 36 km away.

TānsenChitwanButwālSiddharthanagarLumbiniHetauda

What Pokhara looks like

Topography around Pokhara

How much the land rises and falls, and what covers it, within 3, 16 and 80 km of Pokhara.

Within 3 km, the terrain around Pokhara has large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 784 m around an average of 1,094 m above sea level; within 16 km, extreme variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 3,119 m; within 80 km, extreme variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 7,986 m.

The land around Pokhara is covered by trees (58%) within 3 km, trees (76%) within 16 km, and trees (61%) within 80 km.

3 km
784 m
16 km
3,119 m
80 km
7,986 m
treesgrasslandcroplandartificial surfacesbare terrainsnow and icewatermoss and lichen
Nearby: Bāgluṅ 36 km · Wāliṅ 38 km · Tānsen 61 km · Chitwan 80 km · Butwāl 82 km · Siddharthanagar 99 km · Lumbini 115 km · Hetauda 140 km

Nepal travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 2
Exercise Increased Caution
Power plugs
Type C / D / M
230 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 24% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$1,536
2025
Happiness
5.1 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water
16%
of population, 2024
Homicide rate
2.1
per 100k, 2020
Road deaths
16.3
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Lower middle
World Bank
English
Moderate
EF EPI 514
Religion
Hindu 81%Buddhist 8%Muslim 5%Kirat 3%

Sources: World Bank, US State Department, World Happiness Report, WHO/UNICEF, EF EPI, CIA World Factbook.

Data sources

Temperature, precipitation, cloud, humidity, wind and solar figures are a 1991–2020 climatology for Pokhara (28.2669°, 83.9685°, elevation 1,008 m), computed from hourly ERA5 reanalysis — contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information. Sun figures are astronomical calculations, not observations. City data © GeoNames, CC BY 4.0. Map outlines from Natural Earth (public domain); interactive map © Google. UV index is derived from CAMS (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service) clear-sky UV data — contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information. Monthly air-quality (PM2.5) seasonality is from the CAMS EAC4 reanalysis (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service), scaled to the WHO annual mean where available. Topography is sampled from the Copernicus DEM GLO-90 elevation model (© ESA/Airbus) and ESA WorldCover 2021 land cover (CC BY 4.0).