Snowfall in Srinagar 2026-27: When It Snows, First-Snow Dates by Year and What It Does to Flights

Snow falls in Srinagar on a handful of days each winter, almost always between late December and the middle of February, and the city has never been able to promise it for a date. In the last six winters the first snow fell on 12 December 2020, 4 January 2022, 29 December 2022, 1 February 2024, 27 December 2024 and 23 January 2026. Two of those winters were dry in the city until the last week of January or later. When it does snow, it is usually two to three inches, the airport shuts for the day, and the city is at its most beautiful for about 48 hours.

This page is the Srinagar snow record: which months it snows, the first-snow date and amount for every winter since 2020, what a snow day does to flights, roads and daily life, and where to drive for certain snow when the city is dry. The city in every season is in our Srinagar guide; the whole valley's snow, month by month and place by place, is in snowfall in Kashmir. For the coldest month itself, with what is open and where to stay warm, read Srinagar in January.

When does it snow in Srinagar?

Mostly in January, sometimes in the last week of December or the first half of February, and almost never in November or March. The India Meteorological Department's long-term averages for the city (1991 to 2020) explain why: January is the only month that is both cold enough and wet enough. December is cold but dry, with 27 mm of precipitation; January has 64 mm on about eight wet days with nights averaging -1.9°C; February is wetter still, 85 mm, but the nights are already back above freezing on average, so more of it falls as rain. Snow in the city needs a western disturbance to arrive during a cold spell, and that happens a few times a winter, not every week.

The month pages carry the full picture for a trip: Kashmir in December and Kashmir in January for the valley, and Srinagar in December for the city at Christmas and New Year.

First snowfall in Srinagar by year: 2020-21 to 2025-26

This is the table nobody else publishes, built from the news reports of each day. Read it before you book: the city's first snow has come as early as 12 December and as late as 1 February, and twice in six winters it did not come until Chillai Kalan, the 40 coldest days, was nearly over.

Two patterns matter for a trip. First, December snow in the city is a coin toss: three of the six winters had it, on 12, 29 and 27 December, and none in the first ten days of the month. Second, a dry Chillai Kalan is now common. The 2023-24 spell had 1.5 mm of precipitation in 40 days, the least since 2015, and the 2025-26 spell stayed dry for its first month before the storms of 22 to 29 January, which the Meteorological Centre's director said broke a 15-year dry run for the period. By the Centre's figures, 2025-26 was the seventh winter in a row with below-normal precipitation, 65% short between December and February.

What those 40 days are, with the record nights dated, is in Chillai Kalan; the dry-winter series and the El Niño outlook for 2026-27 are in snowfall in Kashmir.

Does it snow in Srinagar in December, January or February?

December

In some years, and never in the first ten days of the month. The city's first December snow in the last six winters came on 12 December 2020, 29 December 2022 and 27 December 2024; the other three Decembers were dry in the city. A trip for Christmas or New Year has a chance of snow in Srinagar, not a promise; Gulmarg, 56 km away, is usually white by then.

January

January is the month to come if snow in the city is the point. It is the coldest month, with nights averaging -1.9°C and cold spells to -6°C and below, and the one with the best record: the big falls of 13 January 2020 (12 cm in the city), the first week of January 2021, 4 to 8 January 2022 and 22 to 29 January 2026 all came in January. The last ten days of the month have been the storm window in recent winters. The catch is that January is also when a dry spell can last the whole month, as it did in 2024 and very nearly in 2026.

February

Snow still falls in the first half of February, and February is the wettest of the three months in the mountains, but in the city more of it falls as rain, because the average night is already above freezing. The 2023-24 winter's first snow came on 1 February 2024, about two inches. By the second half of the month the city is thawing while Gulmarg keeps its deepest snow of the year.

How much snow does Srinagar get, and what is the record?

A normal snow day in the city leaves two to three inches, about 5 to 8 cm, and it is slush on the main roads by the next afternoon. The big falls are the exception: 12 cm on 13 January 2020, 18 cm on 8 to 9 March 2015 (the Meteorological Centre put it at the equivalent of 53.8 mm of rain), and the first week of January 2021, when the plains of the valley had more than two feet over a few days and Srinagar's air traffic stopped for three days. The IMD publishes no snow-depth average for the city, and we found no official all-time record; the 1.5 to 3 feet that fell on the Shopian plains in 15 hours on 23 January 2026 shows what one storm can do in south Kashmir while Srinagar itself gets a few inches.

The cold is a separate record. Srinagar fell to -8.8°C on 31 January 2021, the coldest night in 30 years at the time, and to -8.5°C on 21 December 2024, its coldest December night since 1974. The hardest frosts usually come on the clear nights after a snowfall, not during it, which is when the taps freeze and the edges of Dal Lake ice over.

What snow does to flights at Srinagar airport

Heavy snow closes Srinagar airport for the day, and it has done so on at least six days in the last six winters, with dozens of cancellations on the days around them. The airport runs from 8 am to 5 pm with about 60 flights, and an aircraft needs roughly 1,000 to 1,200 m of visibility; falling snow cuts that to a few hundred metres, and snow lying on the runway closes it until it is cleared. Dense fog does the same in late December and early January.

The pattern is one closed day, sometimes two, and the airport reopens as soon as the runway is clear. Our rules: book a morning flight home, keep a spare day before it, and sleep in Srinagar, not Gulmarg or Sonamarg, the night before you fly. In the January 2026 snow the Vande Bharat from Jammu and Katra kept running to Srinagar while the airport and the highway were shut.

The dated report on the day you fly is on Srinagar airport status; the train as the fallback is in Katra to Srinagar train.

Roads on a snow day: the highway, the Gulmarg road and the city

• The Jammu to Srinagar highway (NH-44). It shuts for heavy snow at the Banihal and Ramsoo stretch, as it did on 12 December 2020, for six days in January 2021, on 27 December 2024 and from 23 January 2026. It stayed open through the January 2022 snow. If you are driving up or down on a forecast snow day, go the day before, or take the train.
• The Gulmarg road. Open all winter, with the rule that cars fit anti-skid chains at Tangmarg on snow days, or you change to a 4x4 for the last 13 km. Chains cost ₹600 a pair at the official rate set in December 2024; the 4x4 was ₹1,200 to ₹1,600 one way when we checked in September 2026.
• Sonamarg. Reachable all winter since the Sonamarg tunnel opened on 13 January 2025; chains in snow, and Zoji La beyond it shuts for days after a storm.
• The city. Snow clears from the Boulevard and the airport road within a day; the lanes of the old city and the climb to Shankaracharya take longer, and the temple road shuts after heavy snow. Roads ice over after dark, so be back at the hotel by sunset, before 6 pm all winter. Power cuts come with the big storms: on 23 January 2026 nearly every 33 kV feeder in the valley was down, so ask your hotel about backup before you book.

The drive, the chains rule and the bus are in Srinagar to Gulmarg.

What a snow day in Srinagar is like, and what stays open

Everything stays open; it just starts late. The Mughal gardens open at 9 am with the fountains off and the chinars bare, and under snow Nishat's terraces are the best photograph in the city. Shikaras run from about 10 am: in January 2026 the rowers pushed through thin ice in the inner channels and still took visitors out with blankets. Dal Lake freezes only at the edges on the coldest nights, as it did on 21 December 2024 and 10 January 2026; the last full freeze was in 1986, whatever the tour pages say. The old city is at its most atmospheric with snow on the roofs of Jamia Masjid and Khanqah-e-Moula, and the harissa shops of Rajouri Kadal, Aali Kadal and Fateh Kadal are serving by 4 am. Shankaracharya is the one place to skip on a snow morning: 243 iced steps.

More on each: Dal Lake, the Mughal gardens, downtown Srinagar and Kashmiri harissa. For a warm room, with the three heating questions to ask before you pay, see hotels in Srinagar and houseboats in Srinagar.

Where to see snow near Srinagar when the city has none

Drive up. The city sits at 1,585 m and its snow melts in a day; Gulmarg at 2,650 m is white from about mid-December to March in a normal winter, and the slopes above it from October. Four options, all day trips from the Boulevard.

Two places you will see in snow news are not options: Sinthan Top and Aharbal are both on the official list of closed tourist destinations (7 July 2026). For our family, a snow day means Gulmarg and one night there, not a rush up and down: the car ride up with chains tied to the tyres, snowball fights and snow angels in fresh snow, and an extra set of clothes and shoes that can handle snow, because after a morning in it you will be soaked.

Whether there is snow on the ground this week is on snowfall in Gulmarg today; the Gondola, slot by slot, is in our Gondola guide; the frozen fall is in Drung waterfall.

Planning a snow trip? Get free plan: a free day-by-day plan for your dates, with hotels for each night and what each day costs.

This winter so far (updated 29 October 2026)

No snow in Srinagar yet, and none expected in the city before November. The 2026-27 season's first snow fell on 5 September above about 3,900 m, Apharwat turned white on 17 September, and the higher reaches had light snow between 13 and 15 October and again on 23 and 24 October (Peer Ki Gali, Sinthan Top, Aharbal, the Razdan Pass). On 26 October the IMD's minimums were 0.6°C at Gulmarg, 0.2°C at Pahalgam and 3.3°C in Srinagar; at 8:30 pm on 29 October the Met Centre Srinagar read 10.9°C in the city and 9°C at Gulmarg. The Centre's outlook was dry weather to 31 October, then light rain in the plains and light snow on the higher reaches at a few places from 1 to 5 November. The Centre's director has said an El Niño winter may again be relatively dry, with one or two big snowfalls still possible.

We update this section whenever the city's status changes: the first snow in the city with the date and the inches, each airport closure, and the state of the Gulmarg road, each line dated and sourced. Until the first snow falls, the line above is the status.

How to check whether it will snow on your dates

Nobody can tell you on 1 November whether it will snow in Srinagar on 15 January, and the 15-day predictions on the forecast sites are guesses past about five days. What works is this, in the week before you fly:

• The Met Centre Srinagar (mausam.imd.gov.in/srinagar): the five-day forecast, district warnings and the western-disturbance bulletins. Snow in the city comes with a western disturbance, which the Centre announces three to five days ahead.
• Our live Gulmarg page for what has actually fallen on the meadow this week, with dates.
• Your airline's app on the morning you fly, and our airport page the night before: on a forecast snow or fog day, expect the morning flights to go first and the afternoon to be cancelled.
• The J&K Traffic Police advisories for the highway and the Gulmarg road on the morning you drive.

Sources

• Averages: IMD 1991 to 2020 normals for Srinagar, as on our Srinagar and January pages.
• First snow by winter: Kashmir Life (7 November 2019, 12 December 2020, 29 December 2022, 30 January 2024), JK News Service and ETV Bharat (4 January 2022), PTI via Outlook India (4 and 5 January 2022, 29 December 2022) and The Tribune (1 February 2024), ETV Bharat (29 January and 1 February 2024, 27 December 2024), National Herald and Republic World (23 January 2026), Kashmir Convener (31 January 2026).
• Amounts and records: IANS via Kashmir Life (13 January 2020) and Gulf Today (9 January 2021), PTI via DNA (9 March 2015), Kashmir Reader (1 February 2021), Kashmir Weather via Kashmir Life (23 January 2026).
• Flights: The Kashmir Images and Kashmir Rays (4 and 8 January 2022), and the closures on our airport page (27 December 2024 to 27 January 2026).
• This season: UNI, Kashmir Observer, Greater Kashmir and KNO (September and October 2026), the Met Centre Srinagar page on 29 October 2026, and our snowfall pillar.
• Prices: our price records, each with its own source and date.