Yamunotri Weather 2026 — Month-wise Guide

Yamunotri, the westernmost shrine of the Char Dham circuit and the source of the Yamuna River, sits at 3,291 metres in the Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand. The final stretch of the pilgrimage involves a 6km trek from Janki Chatti — and weather plays a huge role in how comfortable (or challenging) that trek is. Rain, snow, or sudden cloud cover can make the rocky mountain trail slippery and exhausting. Knowing what to expect each month is the difference between a comfortable darshan and a stressful one.

At 3,291m Yamunotri stays 15–20 degrees colder than Haridwar in every month of the season, and the part that catches people out is not the temple — it is the 6km trek from Janki Chatti, which starts before dawn at the coldest point of the day and climbs 641m. Below is what to expect month by month, and how much the temperature drops between where you slept and where you are standing.

Month-by-month conditions

How much colder it gets on the trek

Janki Chatti is 1,430m above Barkot, where most groups spend the night, and the temple is another 641m above that. That is the gradient people pack for badly: they judge the day from how it felt at breakfast in Barkot and arrive at the road head underdressed for a 6am start.

The Janki Chatti to Yamunotri Trek — Weather Impact

The 6km mountain trek from Janki Chatti to the Yamunotri temple is the part of the pilgrimage most affected by weather. The path climbs from roughly 2,650m to 3,291m through dense forests and rocky terrain alongside the Yamuna River. In dry weather, most moderately fit pilgrims complete it in 2.5–3 hours. In rain, the same trail becomes slippery and the time stretches to 4+ hours. Ponies and dolis are available year-round but advance bookings are recommended in peak season.

Surya Kund — the natural hot spring

The most unusual weather fact about Yamunotri is that the coldest shrine on the circuit contains the hottest water. The Surya Kund at the temple complex holds at roughly 88°C year-round, independent of the air temperature — which in November is close to 90 degrees colder. Pilgrims tie rice or potatoes in a cloth bag, dip it in the kund for a few minutes, offer the cooked food to the deity and carry it home as prasad.

Published figures for the kund vary between about 88°C and boiling, partly because the water is hottest at the source and cools across the pool. We publish 88°C because that is the figure the state tourism material uses and it matches what a thermometer reads at the drawing point. Practical consequence: it will scald. Use the cloth bag and the stick, not your hand, and keep children back from the edge.

Where these figures come from

There is no observing station at Yamunotri itself. Published temperatures for the shrine are interpolated from Barkot and Uttarkashi and adjusted for altitude, which is why sites disagree by several degrees for the same month. 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 Yamunotri (Weather-based)

Frequently asked questions