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The climatic differences in the state of Jammu and Kashmir are probably the most varied in all of India - in Jammu in the hot season the temperatures can be consistently above 400 C, while at Kargil in mid winter the temperature has been known to drop to -400 C, a temperature differential of 1500 F! Similarly Jammu, during the monsoon, can have rain every day while in Ladakh whole years may pass with no rainfall at all.
Jammu
Situated at a height of only 300 metres, Jammu has the three-season
weather typical of the Indian plains. The best time of year in Jammu is
the cool season from early October to about February-March. In October,
immediately after the monsoon finishes, the weather will be cool and
fresh, the skies clear and dust free. Later in the cool season, December
and January in particular, it can get quite crisp with temperatures as low
as 50 C at night.
In February-March the temperature starts to climb as you enter the hot
season. By April, May and June it gets uncomfortably hot and dry. Since
there has been no rain for some time the air is very dusty and the
temperature scarcely seems to drop at night. Towards the end of the hot
season the mercury sill sit at 400 C or above for days on end. Finally,
the monsoon arrives around the beginning of July; the dust is immediately
cleared out of the air although for some time the temperature change is
merely from hot and dry to hot and sticky.
Kashmir
At an altitude of over 1,000 metres the Kashmir Valley is much cooler
than Jammu and it is at its best in the months of May-June for visiting to
get a respite from the hot, airless plains. At this time the daily
temperatures are around 200 C, a delightfully cool contrast to the 400 C
temperatures common on the plains to the south. In July and August it can
get rather hotter and the valley somewhat humid and still - the simple
solution is to move out to one of the smaller resorts that lie around the
valley rim. At places like Pahalgam,
Gulmarg and
Sonamarg the altitude ensures
cooler weather even in mid summer.
The Kashmir tourist season ends in October as minimum temperatures drop
down below 100 C and from November to February night time temperatures
often fall below freezing in
Srinagar
, snow falls and during cold years
Dal Lake can actually
freeze over. In the winter Gulmarg becomes India's number one ski resort.
The spring thaw begins in February-March. Rainfall in Kashmir is fairly
even year round. The mountains protect Kashmir from the worst of the
monsoon.
Ladakh
& Zanskar
Winter at the high altitudes of Ladakh and Zanskar can be spectacularly
cold although snowfall is generally not heavy since the Himalayas act as a
barrier to rain clouds coming up from the south. Parts of Ladakh may have
no recordable rainfall for years, yet in others there may be deep and
persistent snow. Temperatures are consistently below freezing for six
months of the year in Leh and the snowbound pass into Kashmir isolates
Ladakh from October to June.
Weather Of the Cold Desert
Drass is reputed to be one of the coldest places in Asia during the
winter. The Zanskaris bring their sheep, cattleand goats into the house in
winter. The Zanskaris bring their sheep, cattle and goats into the house
in winter and from December to March they themselves retreat into the
central room of the house and wait for spring. The Zanskar river usually
disappears under ice and snow along much of its length. The Ladakhis too
stay much of the winter indoors.
In summer the any time temperatures are pleasantly warm with maximums
around 200 C to 250 C, but nighttime temperatures are always crisp. Even
at the height of summer the temperature will immediately plummet when a
cloud obscures the sun. One should always have a sweater handy in Ladakh.
Beware of the power of the sun at this altitude; one will quickly get a
bad case of sunburn even on a cool day.