Gangotri Weather 2026 — Month-wise Guide
Day and night temperatures, snowfall, rainfall and the best visiting windows for each month
Gangotri is the dham people underestimate for the opposite reason to Kedarnath. The road reaches the temple, so it gets filed as the easy one — and it is easy on the legs. It is hard on the lungs. A pilgrim who slept at Uttarkashi at 1,158 m can be standing at the temple at 3,415 m before lunch, 2,250 m of gain in a morning without walking a step, at the highest shrine on the circuit that a road reaches. Nowhere else on the circuit does altitude arrive that fast.
The other thing the temple’s position does is take the sun away. Gangotri sits in a north-facing gorge under the Bhagirathi peaks and loses direct light by mid-afternoon, so a day that read 16°C at noon is 6°C by the evening aarti. Below is what to expect month by month, split into day and night for that reason, and how much the temperature drops between where you slept and where you are standing.
Month-by-month conditions
| Month | Day | Night | Snow | Rain | Crowds | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April | 5°C to 10°C | −5°C to 0°C | Lying snow at the temple and above Harsil | Low | Light | ⚠️ Go prepared |
| May | 10°C to 16°C | 1°C to 5°C | Melting; peaks white | Low to medium | Very heavy | ✅ Good time to go |
| June | 13°C to 20°C | 5°C to 9°C | None on the route | Medium, rising late | Very heavy | ✅ Good time to go |
| July | 12°C to 18°C | 7°C to 10°C | None | Heavy — peak monsoon | Light | ⛔ Not advised |
| August | 11°C to 17°C | 7°C to 10°C | None | Heavy — peak monsoon | Light | ⛔ Not advised |
| September | 9°C to 15°C | 2°C to 6°C | None | Light to medium | Moderate | ✅ Good time to go |
| October | 4°C to 10°C | −3°C to 1°C | Upper peaks; first flurries late month | Very low | Moderate | ✅ Good time to go |
| November | −1°C to 4°C | −8°C to −4°C | Likely; road closes at short notice | Very low | Light | ⚠️ Go prepared |
How much colder it gets from Uttarkashi to the temple
Uttarkashi, where most groups spend the night, is 2,250 m below Gangotri, and Harsil, the prettier halt 25 km short of the temple, sits halfway up. That is the gradient people pack for badly: they judge the day from a warm breakfast in Uttarkashi and arrive at the temple, in the gorge, in the wind, underdressed by two layers.
| Stop | Elevation | May (night–day) | October (night–day) | What that means |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Uttarkashi | 1,158 m | 14°C to 28°C | 9°C to 23°C | Usual overnight halt. Warm, almost plains weather — the fleece stays in the bag. |
| Harsil | 2,620 m | 5°C to 20°C | 0°C to 14°C | 1,450 m higher and 8–9 degrees colder. Deodar shade keeps the village cool even at noon. |
| Gangotri | 3,415 m | 1°C to 16°C | −3°C to 10°C | Another 800 m. The temple sits in the gorge and loses the sun by mid-afternoon; wind off the glacier. |
If you can get a room at Harsil, sleep there rather than Uttarkashi: it halves the altitude gain on the temple morning and is the better night in every month but the coldest two.
The road, not the temple, is the weather problem
The 100 km above Uttarkashi runs beside the Bhagirathi in a narrowing gorge, a lane and a half wide in places, and it is the first road on the circuit to close when it rains. In July and August it shuts repeatedly for slides at the usual points near Gangnani and Sunagar, sometimes for a day. At either end of the season the last 25 km above Harsil can ice at dawn or shut for snow at short notice. Check today’s road status before you leave Uttarkashi, and read the route guide for the stage-by-stage drive.
Gangnani — the hot spring on the way up
Gangotri is the one dham with no hot spring at the temple; the Bhagirathi there is glacier melt, a few degrees above freezing in every month. The warm water on this route is at Gangnani, 45 km below the temple on the Uttarkashi road, where the Rishikund is hot enough to bathe in and most groups stop on the way up. In October, when the air at the temple is near freezing, it is worth the twenty minutes.
Where these figures come from
There is no observing station at Gangotri itself. Published temperatures for the shrine are interpolated from Uttarkashi and Harsil and adjusted for altitude, which is why sites disagree by several degrees for the same month — and why the gorge’s afternoon shadow, which no station captures, makes evenings colder than the tables suggest. The bands here are what our drivers and guides have recorded on the route over many seasons, cross-checked against IMD regional data, and are given as ranges rather than single figures for that reason.
What to pack for Gangotri, by month
Thermals top and bottom, heavy fleece, down or padded jacket, woollen cap, gloves, a balaclava for the aarti. Ice-grip footwear — the temple precinct is stone and ices at dawn.
Light fleece, a windproof shell for the gorge, a warm layer for the evening, sunscreen SPF 50+ and sunglasses (glare off the river and snow), a rain shell from mid-June.
Full waterproofs, a dry bag for phone and documents, a spare pair of shoes, and a spare day at Uttarkashi — the road is the risk, not the cold.
Heavy fleece, warm jacket, thermal inner for October, cap and gloves. The clearest skies of the year for the glacier view, so a camera; and a towel for Gangnani on the way up.
Frequently asked questions
Last verified: September 21, 2026 · Sources: Shiv Ganga Travels route records (multi-season), IMD regional data, Uttarakhand Tourism
These figures are recorded by Shiv Ganga Travels on the route and are published under CC BY 4.0 — free to quote, republish or cite with attribution to Shiv Ganga Travels, Haridwar and a link to this page. If a figure looks wrong, tell us on +91-7817996730 and we will re-check it.
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