weather in Nepal

anidoug

Hi, I will be doing a general sightseeing tour in Nepal towards the end of July had a question about the weather. I know it's the rain/monsoon season, and checking the weather in Kathmandu online, they say rain everyday this week.

Is anyone currently in Kathmandu? How has the weather been recently?

Will the rain really be a problem while I sightsee? Also, do you think it's worth it to spend time in Nagarkot or Pokhara during this time? Or will the rain clouds block the view of the mountains?

Is a mountain flight worth it as well during July?

Thanks!

Yetijuice

Gai Jatra is the cow dance/parade at the end of July or early August in Kathmandu Valley. Anybody who has had a male family member die in the preceeding year will bring a cow to the parade either as a photo, drawing, wood carving, toy model, plaster of Paris, or even a real life cow. Some of the political poster drawings shown at the parade are a worth see. My favorite place to watch the Gai Jatra parade was in Bhaktapur.

I lived in Nepal for eleven years between 1983 and 1999. The monsoon was cooler with less rainfall after about August 7th. I preferred the second half of the monsoon to the first half. Most of the rainfall is a drizzle at night. Usually the heaviest rainfall would be around July 20th. On July 19, 20, and 21 in 1993 a thundercloud cell stayed over the western part of Kathmandu Valley. In the valley to the southwest of Kathmandu 2,000 people died in flooding and landslides during those three days. That 1993 tragedy was an extreme event. Every monsoon there would be a three day period of continuous light rain. Again most of the rain during the monsoon in Kathmandu comes at night.

The monsoon in Kathmandu lasts from mid-June through the first week of October. The premonsoon rains begin in mid-April and last through early June. The pre-monsoon rains feature late afternoon thunderstorms. If you like thunder and lightning go trekking in the Himalaya from mid-April through about the first of June. Working our way backwards through the calendar, there is usually a three week dry spell from about March 25th to April 15th. In the years I was in Nepal I recall that one year the dry spell ended about April 8th, That was an exception. Air quality is not good in Nepal at lower elevations (under 7,000 feet) during this dry period. There is no wind and plenty of air pollution as smoke from slash and burn agriculture outside Kathmandu Valley accumulates. I have seen a dark red sun set behind the mountains to the west of Kathmandu more than a few times in early April because of the smoke.

The five weeks from February 20th to March 25th have good visibility after thunderstorms that occur roughly once every eight or nine days. Indeed there is one British friend of mine who shows up every year in Kathmandu just for the month of March. I would see him at Sam's Bar, the Maya Pub, Paddy Foley's, Tom and Jerry's, or the Rum Doodle in Thamel. He would show up like clockwork every March.