Kathmandu - Climate

Climate

Climatic conditions vary to a large extent in view of several geographical factors (topography and altitude). Five major climatic regions have been deciphered in Nepal, out of which Kathmandu valley falls under the Warm Temperate Zone (elevation ranging from 1,200–2,300 metres (3,900–7,500 ft)) where the climate is fairly pleasant, atypical of the region. This zone is followed by the Cool Temperate Zone with elevation varying between 2,100 metres (6,900 ft) and 3,300 metres (10,800 ft). Under Köppen's climate classification, portions of the city with lower elevations features a mild form of a humid subtropical climate while portions of the city with higher elevations generally feature a subtropical highland climate. In the Kathmandu valley, which is representative of its valley’s climate the average temperature during the summer season varies from 28–30 °C (82–86 °F). During the winter season the average temperature is 10.1 °C (50.2 °F).

The city generally has a salubrious climate with comfortable warm days followed by the cool mornings and nights. Unpredictability of weather is expected as during winter, temperatures during the winter months have dropped to 3 °C (37 °F). The rainfall which is mostly monsoon based (about 65% of the total concentrated during the monsoon months of June to August), which decreases (100 cm to 200 cm) substantially from eastern Nepal to western Nepal, has been recorded as about 1,400 millimetres (55 in) for the Kathmandu valley and an average of 1,407 millimetres (55.4 in) specifically for the Kathmandu city. On an average Humidity is 75%.

Based on the data source of the Nepal Bureau of Standards & Meteorology, "Weather Meteorology" for 2005, climatic data chart is given, which provides Minimum and Maximum temperatures (the lowest and highest temperatures recorded during the month respectively). Annual amount of Precipitation is 1,124 millimetres (44.3 in) for 2005, as per monthly data included in the table above. The past decade has seen highly variable, unprecedented precipitation anomalies in Kathmandu, mostly due to the annual variation of the southwest monsoon. For example, 2003 was the wettest year ever in Kathmandu, totaling over 2,900 mm of recorded annual precipitation due to an exceptionally prevalent monsoon season, while 2001 recorded only 356 mm of precipitation due to an extraordinarily weak monsoon.