The traditional seasons are:-

Basanta - Spring (Mar - Apr)

Grishma - Summer (May - Jun)

Barsha - Rainy Season (Jul - Aug)

Sarad - Autumn (Sep - Oct)

Hemanta - Pre Winter (Nov - Dec)

Sishir - Winter (Jan - Feb)

Climatically, the southern belt of Nepal, the Terai, experiences warm and humid climate. It is the hottest part of the country where summer temperature rises as high as 40oC. The middle mountain region has climate with mild and pleasant weather throughout the year. The temperature in this region during the summer ranges around 25 to 27oC. and subzero to 12oC. in the mountain and valleys. The northern Himalayan region has an alpine climate. The valley of Kathmandu - the capital city has very pleasant climate with average summer and winter temperatures of 19o to 27oC and 2 to 12oC.

Degree of rainfall also varies with the seasons. Nepal enjoys widespread rainfall during the monsoon period i.e., from June to August. The eastern parts of the country receive maximum rainfall. The winter is rather dry in most parts of the country. Annual rainfall varies around 300mm in the northern and the western areas to over 2500 mm in the eastern region.

The average temperature in Kathmandu during the four seasons:

* Spring season ranges between 16-23 Degree Celsius (61-73 Degree Fahrenheit)

* Summer season ranges between 23-25 Degree Celsius (73-77 Degree Fahrenheit)

* Autumn season ranges between 15-24 Degree Celsius (59-75 Degree Fahrenheit)

* Winter season ranges between 9-12 Degree Celsius (48-54 Degree Fahrenheit)

Rainfall

During the rainy monsoon season between June to August, it rains to an average between 200-375 millimeters in Kathmandu. There is occasional rainfall during the other seasons too. In an average, 1300 millimeters of rain falls in Kathmandu every year.

However, contrary to popular belief, it does not rain all day long during the monsoon. There are heavy short showers and then sunny breaks that are fresh and very nice.

Sunshine

Nepal has about 300 days of sunshine and makes it one of the top countries in the world for harnessing of solar energy for regular use.