The Himalayas abut or cross six countries: Nepal, China, Pakistan, Bhutan, India and Afghanistan. The sovereignty of the range in the Kashmir region is disputed among India, Pakistan, and China. The Himalayan range is bordered on the northwest by the Karakoram and Hindu Kush ranges, on the north by the Tibetan Plateau, and on the south by the Indo-Gangetic Plain. Some of the world's major rivers, the Indus, the Ganges, and the Tsangpo–Brahmaputra, rise in the vicinity of the Himalayas, and their combined drainage basin is home to some 600 million people; 53 million people live in the Himalayas. The Himalayas have profoundly shaped the cultures of South Asia and Tibet. Many Himalayan peaks are sacred in Hinduism and Buddhism. The summits of several—Kangchenjunga (from the Indian side), Gangkhar Puensum, Machapuchare, Nanda Devi, and Kailash in the Tibetan Transhimalaya—are off-limits to climbers.

Lifted by the subduction of the Indian tectonic plate under the Eurasian Plate, the Himalayan mountain range runs west-northwest to east-southeast in an arc 2,400 km (1,500 mi) long. Its western anchor, Nanga Parbat, lies just south of the northernmost bend of the Indus river. Its eastern anchor, Namcha Barwa, lies immediately west of the great bend of the Yarlung Tsangpo River. The range varies in width from 350 km (220 mi) in the west to 150 km (93 mi) in the east.

The name of the range hails from the Sanskrit word Himālaya (हिमालय) meaning 'abode of snow', which is a combination of the words hima (हिम) meaning 'frost/cold' and ālaya (आलय) meaning 'dwelling/house'. They are known as "the Himalaya Mountains", usually shortened to "the Himalayas".

The mountain range is known as Himālaya in Hindi and Nepali (both written हिमालय), Himalaya (ཧི་མ་ལ་ཡ་) in Tibetan, Himāliya (سلسلہ کوہ ہمالیہ) in Urdu, Himaloy (হিমালয়) in Bengali, and Ximalaya (simplified Chinese: 喜马拉雅; traditional Chinese: 喜馬拉雅; pinyin: Xǐmǎlāyǎ) in Chinese.

The name of the range is sometimes given as Himavat (Sanskrit: हिमवत्) in older literature such as the Indian epic Mahabharata, which is the personification of the Hindu deity Himavan. Other epithets include "Himaraja" (Sanskrit: हिमराज, lit. 'king of snow') or "Parvateshwara" (Sanskrit: पर्वतेश्वर, lit. 'lord of mountains').

It was mentioned as Himmaleh in western literature such as Emily Dickinson's poetry and Henry David Thoreau's essays.

The Himalayas truns west-northwest to east-southeast in an arc 2,400 km (1,500 mi) long, separating the Indo-Gangetic Plains from the Tibetan Plateau. It is bordered by the Karakoram and Hindu Kush ranges on the northwest, which extend into Central Asia. Its western anchor Nanga Parbat lies south of the northernmost bend of the Indus river in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and its eastern anchor Namcha Barwa lies to the west of the eastern bend of the Yarlung Tsangpo River in Tibet Autonomous Region of China. The Himalayas occupies an area of 595,000 km (230,000 sq mi) across six countries – Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Nepal, and Pakistan. The sovereignty of the range in the Kashmir region is disputed amongst India, Pakistan, and China. The range varies in width from 350 km (220 mi) in the north-west to 150 km (93 mi) in the south-east. The range has several peaks exceeding an elevation of 8,000 m (26,000 ft) including Mount Everest, the highest mountain on Earth at 8,848 m (29,029 ft).

The Himalayas consist of four parallel mountain ranges from south to north: the Sivalik Hills on the south; the Lower Himalayas; the Great Himalayas, which is the highest and central range; and the Tibetan Himalayas on the north.

The Sivalik Hills form the lowest sub-Himalayan range and extends for almost the entire stretch of the Himalayas. There is a gap in the range between the Teesta in the Indian state of Sikkim and Raidak River in Bhutan. The name derives from Sanskrit meaning "Belonging to Shiva". The width of the range varies between 10–50 km (6.2–31.1 mi) and the average elevation ranges from 1,500–2,000 m (4,900–6,600 ft). It is made up of fault scarps along the Indo-Gangetic Plain and is geologically separated from the higher northern sub-ranges by 32–48 km (20–30 miles) wide valleys called duns. The eastern portion of the range is called Churia Range in Nepal.

The Lower or Lesser Himalaya (also known as Himachal) is the lower middle sub-section of the Himalayas. It is mostly composed of rocky surfaces, with a few higher peaks towards the northern part of the range. It is about 75 km (47 mi) wide, and has an average elevation of 3,600–4,600 m (11,800–15,100 ft). The range separates the Greater Himalayas from lower fertile valleys in the Shivaliks. The Greater Himalayas (also known as Himadri) form the northernmost and the highest section of the Himalayas. The sub-range has an average elevation of more than 6,100 m (20,000 ft) and contains many of the world's tallest peaks including Mount Everest. It is mainly composed of granite and metamorphic rocks. The Tibetan Himalayas (also known as Tethys) form the northern most sub-range of the Himalayas in Tibet.

In the middle of the great curve of the Himalayan mountains lie the 8,000 m (26,000 ft) peaks of Dhaulagiri and Annapurna in Nepal, separated by the Kali Gandaki Gorge. The gorge splits the Himalayas into western, and eastern sections, both ecologically and orographically – the pass at the head of the Kali Gandaki, the Kora La, is the lowest point on the ridgeline between Everest and K2 (the highest peak of the Karakoram range).

The Eastern Himalayas forms the stretch of the range eastwards of Annapurna and consist of parts of Tibet in China, North East Indian states including Sikkim, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, and north West Bengal in India, entirety of Bhutan, mountain regions of central and eastern Nepal, and most of the western lowlands in Nepal. To the east of Annapurna are the 8,000 m (26,000 ft) peaks of Manaslu and across the border in Tibet, Shishapangma. To the south of these lies Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal and the largest city in the Himalayas. East of the Kathmandu Valley lies the valley of the Bhote/ Sunkoshi River which rises in Tibet and provides the main overland route between Nepal and China – the Araniko Highway/China National Highway 318. Further east is the Mahalangur Himal with four of the world's six highest mountains: Cho Oyu, Everest, Lhotse, and Makalu, including the highest Everest. The Khumbu region, popular for trekking, is found here on the south-western approaches to Everest. The Arun river drains the northern slopes of these mountains, before turning south and flowing to the range to the east of Makalu.

In the far east of Nepal, the eastern Himalayas broadly consists of two regions–the western Sikkim Himalayas and the eastern Assam Himalayas. The eastern region is formed of gneiss rocks separated by the river valleys of the Brahmaputra river system. The region consists of glaciers, and high altitude mountain passes that serve as crossovers with the human settlements in the lower valleys. It forms the Kanchenjunga massif on the border with India, the third-highest mountain in the world, the most easterly 8,000 m (26,000 ft) summit and the highest point in India. The eastern side of Kangchenjunga is in the Indian state of Sikkim. Formerly an independent Kingdom till 1976, it lies on the main route from India to Lhasa, Tibet, which passes over the Nathu La pass into Tibet. East of Sikkim lies the ancient Buddhist Kingdom of Bhutan. The highest mountain in Bhutan is Gangkhar Puensum, which is also a strong candidate for the highest unclimbed mountain in the world. The Himalayas here are become increasingly rugged, with heavily forested steep valleys. The Himalayas continue eastward from Bhutan, turning slightly northeast, through the Indian State of Arunachal Pradesh past the Dihang River to the India-Tibet border in the east, before reaching their easterly conclusion in the peak of Namche Barwa, situated in Tibet, inside the great bend of the Yarlang Tsangpo river. The region is the source of many of the tributaries of the Brahmaputra River and consists of largely unexplored terrain with high mountain passes. Beyond the Dihang valley, the mountains extend as Purvanchal mountain range across the eastern boundary of India. On the other side of the Tsangpo, to the east, are the Kangri Garpo mountains. The high mountains to the north of the Tsangpo, including Gyala Peri, however, are also sometimes included in the Himalayas.

Going west from Dhaulagiri, Western Nepal is somewhat remote and lacks major high mountains, but is home to Rara Lake, the largest lake in Nepal. The Karnali River rises in Tibet but cuts through the centre of the region. Further west, the border with India follows the Sarda River and provides a trade route into China, where on the Tibetan plateau lies the high peak of Gurla Mandhata. Just across from this lies Lake Manasarovar and the sacred Mount Kailash in the Kailash Ranges, which stands close to the source of the four main rivers of Himalayas and is revered in Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Sufism and Bonpo. In the Indian state of Uttarakhand, the Himalayas are regionally divided into the Kumaon and Garhwal. The Kumaon range extends for about 320 km (200 mi) along the state of Uttarakhand in northern India from the Sutlej River in the east to the Kali River in Nepal in the west. The region comprises parts of Sivalik and Great Himalayas. The state is also home to the important pilgrimage destinations of Chota Chaar Dhaam, including Gangotri, the source of the holy river Ganges, Yamunotri, the source of the river Yamuna, and the temples at Badrinath and Kedarnath. At lower elevations, the region consists of several settlements, and at higher elevations, permanent snow caps cover the Great Himalayas with the highest peaks being Nanda Devi at 7,817 m (25,646 ft) and Kamet at 7,756 m (25,446 ft).

The Western Himalayas extend for about 880 km (550 mi) from the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh across the Kashmir region towards the bend of the Indus River along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region in the north-west. The Dhauladhar hills, which form part of the Lesser Himalayas, extend across Himachal Pradesh between the Chenab and Tawi River valleys. It is split by Beas and Ravi Rivers, joins the Greater Himalayas north of Gangotri. Himachal Pradesh is noted for its hill stations, particularly Shimla, the summer capital of the British Raj, and Dharamsala, the centre of the Tibetan community and government in exile in India.

Towards the west, the Pir Panjal Range stretches along the Vale of Kashmir, with the Chenab River flowing through it. It forms much of the disputed Indian-administered union territory of Jammu and Kashmir where lie the mountainous Jammu region and the Kashmir Valley with the town of Srinagar. The Himalayas form most of the south-west portion of the disputed Chinese administered Aksai Chin and the Indian-administered union territory of Ladakh. The Zanskar Range separates Ladakh plateau from the Indus valley. The twin peaks of Nun Kun are the only mountains over 7,000 m (23,000 ft) in this part of the Himalayas. The Punjab Himalayas stretches for about 560 km (350 mi) between the Indus and Satluj rivers, the most easterly of the five tributaries of the Indus. Finally, the Himalayas reach their western end in at Nanga Parbat, which is the highest point in the Western Himalayas at 8,126 m (26,660 ft). The Indus forms the division between the Western Himalayas and the Karakoram range to the north, in the disputed Pakistani-administered territory of Gilgit-Baltistan. Some portion of the Himalayas, such as the Kaghan Valley, Margalla Hills, and Galyat tract, extend into the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The Himalayan range is one of the youngest mountain ranges on the planet and consists of uplifted sedimentary and metamorphic rock. According to the modern theory of plate tectonics, it was formed as a result of a continental collision and orogeny along the convergent boundary between the India and Eurasian Plates. The Arakan Yoma highlands in Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal were also formed as a result of this collision. During the Jurassic period (201 to 145 mya), the Tethys Ocean formed the southern border of then existent Eurasian landmass. When the super-continent Pangea broke up nearly 200 mya, the Indo-Australian plate slowly drifted northwards towards Eurasia for 130–140 million years. The Indian Plate broke up with the Australian Plate about 100 mya. During the paleogene period (about 50 mya), this fast-moving Indian plate completely closed the Tethys Ocean, the existence of which has been determined by sedimentary rocks settled on the ocean floor and the volcanoes that fringed its edges. As both the plates were made of continental crusts, which were less dense than oceanic crusts, the increased compressive forces resulted in folding of the underlying rock bed into mountain ranges rather than subducting into the Earth's mantle along an oceanic trench.

An often-cited fact used to illustrate this process is that the summit of Mount Everest is made of unmetamorphosed marine Ordovician limestone with fossil trilobites, crinoids, and ostracods from this ancient ocean. During the early miocene (20 mya), the increasing collision between the plates resulted in the top layer of the gneiss rocks getting peeled, which moved southwards to form nappes of the Lesser Himalayas. As the mountains received rainfall, the waters flowing down eroded the Himalayas by about 1 mm (0.039 in) every year and steepened the southern slopes. The silt deposited by these rivers and streams in the trough between the Himalayas and the Deccan plateau formed the Indo-Gangetic Plain. The silt deposition became higher during the Quarternary period with nearly 2 billion tonnes of sediment carried from the Himalayas to the plains yearly. The Great Himalayas and Lesser Himalayas consist of metamorphic rock formations formed during the Precambrian period, which was continuously augmented by sedimentation throughout the Cambrian and Lower Tertiary periods. During the Eocene period, the nappes were formed from the metamorphosis of the sedimentary rocks from the original Tethys sea.

The upliftment of the Himalayas occurred gradually and as the Great Himalayas became higher, they became a climatic barrier and blocked the winds, which resulted in lesser precipitation on the upper slopes. The lower slopes continued to be eroded by the rivers, which flowed in the gaps between the mountains and the folded lower Shivalik Hills and the Lesser Himalayas were formed due to the downwarping of the intermediate lands. Minor streams ran between the faults within the mountains until they joined the major river systems in the plains. Intermediate valleys such as Kashmir and Kathmandu were formed from temporary lakes that were formed during pleistocene, which dried up later. The Sivalik range consists of rocks formed by thrust faulting during the Neogene period.

The Himalayan region is made up of five geological zones– the Sub-Himalayan Zone bound by the Main Frontal Thrust and the Main Boundary Thrust (MBT); the Lesser Himalayan Zone between the MBT and the Main Central Thrust (MCT); the Higher Himalayan Zone beyond the MCT; the Tethyan Zone, separated by the South Tibetan Detachment System; and the Indus-Tsangpo Suture Zone, where the Indian plate is subducted below the Asian plate. Today, the Indian plate is still moving at 67 mm (2.6 in) per year, and over the next 10 million years, it will travel about 1,500 km (930 mi) into Asia. About 20 mm per year of the India-Asia convergence is absorbed by thrusting along the Himalaya southern front. This leads to the Himalayas rising by about 5 mm per year, making them geologically active. The movement of the Indian plate into the Asian plate also makes this region seismically active, leading to earthquakes from time to time.

During the last ice age, there was a connected ice stream of glaciers between Kangchenjunga in the east and Nanga Parbat in the west. In the west, the glaciers joined with the ice stream network in the Karakoram, and in the north, they joined with the former Tibetan inland ice. To the south, outflow glaciers came to an end below an elevation of 1,000–2,000 m (3,300–6,600 ft). While the current valley glaciers of the Himalaya reach at most 20 to 32 km (12 to 20 mi) in length, several of the main valley glaciers were 60 to 112 km (37 to 70 mi) long during the ice age. The glacier snowline (the altitude where accumulation and ablation of a glacier are balanced) was about 1,400–1,660 m (4,590–5,450 ft) lower than it is today. Thus, the climate was at least 7.0 to 8.3 °C (12.6 to 14.9 °F) colder than it is today.

The Western Himalayas stretching from the Karakoram to the Ladakh region is generally a dry desert with saline soil. In the Greater Himalayas, the higher mountain tops consist of shallow, eroded, coarse alkaline soil, with high calcium content. The southern slopes have shallow to medium depth loamy soil with lithic fragments. The steeper slopes on the other side have a thicker soil cover with slight acidicity and moderate lithic fragments. The soil is also impacted by the temperature and altitude of the region. Fertile alluvial soils occur in select river valleys such as the Kashmir valley. In the Lesser Himalayas, the composition and texture of the soils in the Himalayas also vary across regions. These are mostly covered with coniferous forests, with cultivable soils in river valleys. Podzolic and brown forest soils occur in the Shivalik ranges with sparse forests. The lower slopes are well drained and suitable for certain crops. Soil erosion is greater on the lower slopes of the Himalayas. In the Eastern Himalayas, the wet soils have a high humus content conducive for growing tea.

Despite its greater size, the Himalayas does not form a water divide with the actual divide located north of the range formed by the Gangdise and the Ladakh Range. The Hindu Kush and Karakoram ranges separate the Indus basin from Central Asia on the west and on the east, Kailas and Nyenchen Tanglha Mountains separate the Brahmaputra river system from the Tibetan rivers to the north. The range itself is cut across by multiple river systems which often flow east-west parallel to the range before cutting across south to reach the plains. The two major river systems are the Ganges-Brahmaputra, which follow an easterly course and Indus, which follows a north-westerly course. These three river systems are fed by more than 5000 glaciers. These rivers often form deep gorges while cutting across the range. The Himalayan river systems arise from three major sources–high altitude lakes and springs north of the Himalayas which give rise to rivers like Indus, Brahmaputra, and Satluj, Himalayan glaciers serving as the source for rivers like Ganges, Yamuna, Chenab and Ravi, and the lakes and streams in the lower Himalayas giving rise to non-perennial rivers.

• The western rivers combine into the Indus Basin with the Indus itself forms the northern and western boundaries of the Himalayas. The Indus Basin extends from the western section of the range and has a catchment area of nearly 1,120,000 km (430,000 sq mi) stretching majorly across India, and Pakistan. The Indus begins at the confluence of Sengge and Gar rivers near Lake Manasarovar in Tibet and the upper Indus consists of the greatest area of perennial glacial ice in the world outside the polar regions. It flows westward joining about 27 tributaries including Shyok and Zanskar Rivers. The five major tributaries of Indus –Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej originate in the Himalayas and join the Indus in the Punjab region spread across India and Pakistan. The river and its tributaries have narrower basins as they flow between the high altitude ranges of the Western Himalayas between the Greater and the Lesser Himalayas. The river system drains across the Himalayan region in Kashmir, before spreading through the Punjab Plains and later forms the Indus Delta near the India-Pakistan border before joining the Arabian sea.

• The Ganges-Brahmaputra Basin is one of the largest river basins in the world. The Ganges is formed by five head streams including the Bhagirathi arising at Gangotri and Alaknanda in Uttarakhand, and the basin covers an area of 1,086,000 km (419,000 sq mi). It flows through the Indog-Gangetic Plains across eastern India before entering Bangladesh. Other Himalayan rivers that form the major tributaries of the Ganges include Yamuna, Ramganga, Ghaghara, Rapti, Gandaki, Bagmati, and Kosi. The Brahmaputra arises in the Tibetan region flowing eastwards before making a turn towards south into India, and has a cathcment area of 580,000 km (220,000 sq mi). The Teesta, Raidak, Manas form the major tributaries of the Brahmaputra. The Ganges and Brahmaputra join together before forming the Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta spread across India and Bangladesh for nearly 60,000 km (23,000 sq mi) is the largest in the world.

The northern slopes of Gyala Peri and the peaks beyond the Tsangpo drain into the Irrawaddy River, which originates in eastern Tibet and flows south through Myanmar to drain into the Andaman Sea. The Salween, Mekong, Yangtze, and Yellow Rivers all originate from parts of the Tibetan Plateau, north of the great water divide. These are considered distinct from the Himalayan watershed and are known as circum-Himalayan rivers.

The Himalayas and the Central Asian mountain ranges consist of the third-largest deposit of ice and snow in the world, after the Antarctic and Arctic regions. It is often referred to as the "Third Pole". It encompasses about 15,000 glaciers, which store about 12,000 km (2,900 cu mi) or 3600–4400 Gt (10 kg) of fresh water. Gangotri, which is 320 km (200 mi) long and is one of the largest glaciers, is one of the sources of the Ganges. The South Col and Khumbu Glacier in the Mount Everest region are amongst the world's highest glaciers. Others include Yamunotri (Uttarakhand), Langtang glacier (Langtang region), and Zemu (Sikkim). The Himalayan glaciers show considerable variation in the velocity ranging from 1.78–7.09 m (5 ft 10 in – 23 ft 3 in) annually in the Eastern Himalayas.

Owing to the mountains' latitude near the Tropic of Cancer, the permanent snow line is among the highest in the world, at typically around 5,500 m (18,000 ft). In contrast, equatorial mountains in New Guinea, the Rwenzoris, and Colombia have a snow line some 900 m (2,950 ft) lower. The higher regions of the Himalayas are snowbound throughout the year, in spite of their proximity to the tropics, and they form the sources of several large perennial rivers.

Since the late 20th century, scientists have reported a notable increase in the rate of glacier retreat across the region as a result of climate change. For example, glacial lakes have been forming rapidly on the surface of debris-covered glaciers in the Bhutan Himalaya during the last few decades. The rate of retreat varies across regions depending on the local conditions. Since 1975, a marked increase in the loss of glacial mass from 5–13 Gt/yr to 16–24 Gt/yr has been observed with an estimated 13% overall decrease in glacial coverage in the Himalayas. Although the effect of this will not be known for many years, the resulting climate variations and changes in hydrology could affect the livelihoods of the people who rely on the glaciers to feed the rivers.

The Himalayan region has multiple lakes across various elevations including endorheic freshwater and saline lakes. The lakes can be high altitude glacier fed lakes or structural lakes. The geology of the lakes vary across geographies depending on various factors such as altitude, climate, water source, and lithology. The high altitude mountain lakes situated above 5,500 m (18,000 ft) are known to geographers as tarns and are formed primarily by the snow-melt of the glaciers. The lower altitude lakes are replenished by a combination of rains, underground springs, and streams. Large lakes in the Himalayan basin were formed in the holocene period, when water pooled in the faults and the water supply was subsequently cut off.

There are more than 4500 high altitude lakes of which about 12 large lakes contribute to more than 75% of the total lake area in the Indian Himalayas. Pangong Lake spread across India and China is the highest saline lake in the world at an altitude of 4,350 m (14,270 ft) and amongst the largest in the region with a surface area of 700 km (270 sq mi). Tilicho Lake in Nepal, in the Annapurna massif, is one of the highest lakes in the world. Spread across 189 km (73 sq mi), Wular Lake is amongst the largest fresh water lakes in Asia. Other large lakes include Tso Moriri, and Tso Kar in Ladakh, Nilnag, and Tarsar Lake, in Jammu and Kashmir, Gurudongmar, Chholhamu, and Tsomgo Lakes in Sikkim, Rara, Phoksundo, and Gokyo Lakes in Nepal. Some of the Himalayan lakes present the danger of a glacial lake outburst flood as they have grown considerably over the last 50 years due to glacial melting. For example, the Tsho Rolpa glacier lake in the Rowaling Valley, in the Dolakha District of Nepal, located at an altitude of 4,580 m (15,030 ft), has grown considerably over the last 50 years due to glacial melting. Temperate Himalayan wetlands provide important habitat and layover sites for migratory birds. While these lakes support a range of ecosystems and local communities, many of them remain poorly studied in terms of their hydrology and biodiversity.

The physical factors determining the climate in any location in the Himalayas include latitude, altitude, and the relative motion of the Southwest monsoon. From north to south, the mountains cover more than eight degrees of latitude, spanning temperate to subtropical zones. The colder air of Central Asia is prevented from blowing down into South Asia by the physical configuration of the Himalayas. This causes the tropical zone to extend farther north in South Asia than anywhere else in the world. The evidence is unmistakable in the Brahmaputra valley as the warm air from the Bay of Bengal bottlenecks and rushes up past Namcha Barwa, the eastern anchor of the Himalayas, and into southeastern Tibet. Temperatures in the Himalayas cool by 2.0 degrees C (3.6 degrees F) for every 300 metres (980 ft) increase of altitude.

As the physical features of mountains are irregular, with broken jagged contours, there can be wide variations in temperature over short distances. Temperature at a location on a mountain depends on the season of the year, the bearing of the sun with respect to the face on which the location lies, and the mass of the mountain, i.e. the amount of matter in the mountain. As the temperature is directly proportional to received radiation from the sun, the faces that receive more direct sunlight also have a greater heat buildup. In narrow valleys—lying between steep mountain faces—there can be dramatically different weather along their two margins. The side to the north with a mountain above facing south can have an extra month of the growing season. The mass of the mountain also influences the temperature, as it acts as a heat island, in which more heat is absorbed and retained than the surroundings, and therefore influences the heat budget or the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature from the winter minimum to the summer maximum.

The immense scale of the Himalayas means that many summits can create their own weather, the temperature fluctuating from one summit to another, from one face to another, and all may be quite different from the weather in nearby plateaus or valleys.

The Himalayan hydroclimate is crucial for South Asia, where annual summer monsoon floods impact millions.

A critical influence on the Himalayan climate is the Southwest Monsoon. Variability in monsoon rainfall, influenced by local Hadley circulation and tropical sea surface temperatures, is the main factor behind wet and dry years. This is not so much the rain of the summer months as the wind that carries the rain. Different rates of heating and cooling between the Central Asian continent and the Indian Ocean create large differences in the atmospheric pressure prevailing above each. In the winter, a high-pressure system forms and remains suspended above Central Asia, forcing air to flow in the southerly direction over the Himalayas. But in Central Asia, as there is no substantial source for water to be diffused as vapour, the winter winds blowing across South Asia are dry. In the summer months, the Central Asian plateau heats up more than the ocean waters to its south. As a result, the air above it rises higher and higher, creating a thermal low. Off-shore high-pressure systems in the Indian Ocean push the moist summer air inland toward the low-pressure system. When the moist air meets mountains, it rises and upon subsequent cooling, its moisture condenses and is released as rain, typically heavy rain. The wet summer monsoon winds cause precipitation in India and all along the layered southern slopes of the Himalayas. This forced lifting of air is called the orographic effect.

The vast size, huge altitude range, and complex topography of the Himalayas mean they experience a wide range of climates, from humid subtropical in the foothills, to cold and dry desert conditions on the Tibetan side of the range. For much of the Himalayas—in the areas to the south of the high mountains, the monsoon is the most characteristic feature of the climate and causes most of the precipitation, while the western disturbance brings winter precipitation, especially in the west. Heavy rain arrives on the southwest monsoon in June and persists until September. The monsoon can seriously impact transport and cause major landslides. It restricts tourism – the trekking and mountaineering season is limited to either before the monsoon in April/May or after the monsoon in October/November (autumn). In Nepal and Sikkim, there are often considered to be five seasons: summer, monsoon, autumn, (or post-monsoon), winter, and spring.

Using the Köppen climate classification, the lower elevations of the Himalayas, reaching in mid-elevations in central Nepal (including the Kathmandu valley), are classified as Cwa, Humid subtropical climate with dry winters. Higher up, most of the Himalayas have a subtropical highland climate (Cwb).

The intensity of the southwest monsoon diminishes as it moves westward along the range, with as much as 2,030 mm (80 in) of rainfall in the monsoon season in Darjeeling in the east, compared to only 975 mm (38.4 in) during the same period in Shimla in the west.

The northern side of the Himalayas, also known as the Tibetan Himalaya, is dry, cold, and generally windswept, particularly in the west where it has a cold desert climate. The vegetation is sparse and stunted and the winters are severely cold. Most of the precipitation in the region is in the form of snow during the late winter and spring months.

Local impacts on climate are significant throughout the Himalayas. Temperatures fall by 0.2 to 1.2 °C for every 100 m (330 ft) rise in altitude. This gives rise to a variety of climates, from a nearly tropical climate in the foothills, to tundra and permanent snow and ice at higher elevations. Local climate is also affected by the topography: The leeward side of the mountains receive less rain while the well-exposed slopes get heavy rainfall and the rain shadow of large mountains can be significant, for example, leading to near desert conditions in the Upper Mustang, which is sheltered from the monsoon rains by the Annapurna and Dhaulagiri massifs and has annual precipitation of around 300 mm (12 in), while Pokhara on the southern side of the massifs has substantial rainfall (3,900 mm or 150 in a year). Thus, although annual precipitation is generally higher in the east than in the west, local variations are often more important.

The Himalayas have a profound effect on the climate of the Indian subcontinent and the Tibetan Plateau. They prevent frigid, dry winds from blowing south into the subcontinent, which keeps South Asia much warmer than corresponding temperate regions in the other continents. It also forms a barrier for the monsoon winds, keeping them from traveling northwards, and causing heavy rainfall in the Terai region. The Himalayas are also believed to play an important part in the formation of Central Asian deserts, such as the Taklamakan and Gobi.

This section is an excerpt from Hindu Kush § Climate change.[edit]

The 2019 Hindu Kush Himalaya Assessment concluded that between 1901 and 2014, the Hindu Kush Himalaya (or HKH) region had already experienced warming of 0.1 °C per decade, with the warming rate accelerating to 0.2 °C per decade over the past 50 years. Over the past 50 years, the frequency of warm days and nights had also increased by 1.2 days and 1.7 nights per decade, while the frequency of extreme warm days and nights had increased by 1.26 days and 2.54 nights per decade. There was also a corresponding decline of 0.5 cold days, 0.85 extreme cold days, 1 cold night, and 2.4 extreme cold nights per decade. The length of the growing season has increased by 4.25 days per decade.

There is less conclusive evidence of light precipitation becoming less frequent while heavy precipitation became both more frequent and more intense. Finally, since 1970s glaciers have retreated everywhere in the region beside Karakoram, eastern Pamir, and western Kunlun, where there has been an unexpected increase in snowfall. Glacier retreat had been followed by an increase in the number of glacial lakes, some of which may be prone to dangerous floods.

In the future, if the Paris Agreement goal of 1.5 °C of global warming is not exceeded, warming in the HKH will be at least 0.3 °C higher, and at least 0.7 °C higher in the hotspots of northwest Himalaya and Karakoram. If the Paris Agreement goals are broken, then the region is expected to warm by 1.7–2.4 °C in the near future (2036–2065) and by 2.2–3.3 °C (2066–2095) near the end of the century under the "intermediate" Representative Concentration Pathway 4.5 (RCP4.5).

Under the high-warming RCP8.5 scenario where the annual emissions continue to increase for the rest of the century, the expected regional warming is 2.3–3.2 °C and 4.2–6.5 °C, respectively. Under all scenarios, winters will warm more than the summers, and the Tibetan Plateau, the central Himalayan Range, and the Karakoram will continue to warm more than the rest of the region. Climate change will also lead to the degradation of up to 81% of the region's permafrost by the end of the century.

Future precipitation is projected to increase as well, but CMIP5 models struggle to make specific projections due to the region's topography: the most certain finding is that the monsoon precipitation in the region will increase by 4–12% in the near future and by 4–25% in the long term. There has also been modelling of the changes in snow cover, but it is limited to the end of century under the RCP 8.5 scenario: it projects declines of 30–50% in the Indus Basin, 50–60% in the Ganges basin, and 50–70% in the Brahmaputra Basin, as the snowline elevation in these regions will rise by between 4.4 and 10.0 m/yr. There has been more extensive modelling of glacier trends: it is projected that one third of all glaciers in the extended HKH region will be lost by 2100 even if the warming is limited to 1.5 °C (with over half of that loss in the Eastern Himalaya region), while RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 are likely to lead to the losses of 50% and >67% of the region's glaciers over the same timeframe.

Glacier melt is projected to accelerate regional river flows until the amount of meltwater peaks around 2060, going into an irreversible decline afterwards. Since precipitation will continue to increase even as the glacier meltwater contribution declines, annual river flows are only expected to diminish in the western basins where contribution from the monsoon is low: however, irrigation and hydropower generation would still have to adjust to greater interannual variability and lower pre-monsoon flows in all of the region's rivers.

The flora and fauna of the Himalayas vary with climate, rainfall, altitude, and soils. The climate ranges from tropical at the base of the mountains to permanent ice and snow at the highest elevations. The amount of yearly rainfall increases from west to east along the southern front of the range. This diversity of altitude, rainfall, and soil conditions, combined with the very high snow line, supports a variety of distinct plant and animal communities. The extremes of high altitude (low atmospheric pressure), combined with extreme cold, favor extremophile organisms.

At high altitudes, the elusive and previously endangered snow leopard is the main predator. Its prey includes members of the goat family grazing on the alpine pastures and living on the rocky terrain, notably the endemic bharal or Himalayan blue sheep. The Himalayan musk deer is also found at high altitudes. Hunted for its musk, it is now rare and endangered. Other endemic or near-endemic herbivores include the Himalayan tahr, the takin, the Himalayan serow, and the Himalayan goral. The critically endangered Himalayan subspecies of the brown bear is found sporadically across the range, as is the Asian black bear. In the mountainous mixed deciduous and conifer forests of the eastern Himalayas, red pandas feed in the dense understories of bamboo. Lower down, the forests of the foothills are inhabited by several different primates, including the endangered Gee's golden langur and the Kashmir gray langur, with highly restricted ranges in the east and west of the Himalayas, respectively.

The unique floral and faunal wealth of the Himalayas is undergoing structural and compositional changes due to climate change. Hydrangea hirta is an example of floral species that can be found in this area. The increase in temperature is shifting various species to higher elevations. The oak forest is being invaded by pine forests in the Garhwal Himalayan region. There are reports of early flowering and fruiting in some tree species, especially rhododendron, apple, and box myrtle. The highest known tree species in the Himalayas is Juniperus tibetica, located at 4,900 m (16,080 ft) in Southeastern Tibet.

Similar to the mountains, the communities living near the Himalayas are experiencing climate change and its negative impacts significantly more than other parts of the world. Some of the impacts that the communities are facing include erratic rainfall, flooding, rising temperatures, and landslides. These impacts can have extreme negative effects on the villages living in the area especially as the temperatures rise at higher rates than many other places in the world (Alexander et al., 2014). There are more than 1.9 million people who are highly vulnerable due to climate change with an additional 10 million people at risk in Nepal. Nepal is among the top ten most vulnerable Global South countries due to climate change in the world, standing at number 4 as of 2010 according to the climate change risk atlas. According to NAPA (National Adaptation Program of Action) of Nepal, many threats including floods, droughts, and landslides are an imminent threat to the glacial lake area. With this in consideration, climate change policy and framework for LAPA (Local Adaptation Plans of Action) were prepared in 2011 primarily focusing on addressing climatic hazards.

Local communities are suffering from food scarcity and malnutrition as well as an increasing risk to diseases such as malaria and dengue fever as temperatures rise and allow these diseases to migrate further north. There is also an increasing risk of water borne illnesses accompanied by an increasing lack of safe drinking water. Illness is not the only danger to the communities as temperatures sky rocket. With the climate changing weather patterns are also changing and more extreme weather events are occurring putting local communities more at risk to physical harm and death during erratic weather events. Marginalized groups including children and women are experiencing more severe impacts from climate change and are often more exposed to disease and injury. Over the last couple years these health impacts have gotten increasingly worse and more common. Recent studies have shown that dengue fever has had a consistent pattern of epidemic in Nepal in the years 2010, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022 with the largest in terms of severity occurring in 2022. 54,784 reported cases were recorded from all 77 districts in seven provinces. These diseases are simply in addition to other diseases that can be seen with the rise of global temperatures and air pollution. Many vulnerable groups are experiencing an increase in respiratory illness, cardiac illnesses, and asthma. The heat can lead to issues such as a strain on respiratory illnesses, heat stroke, and fever. There is also the increased risk of cancer. Many lower income communities such as the himalayan villages suffer from exposure to more pollution or in some cases exposure to toxic chemicals which has led to an increased rate of cancer in these communities as well as an increased risk of death.

The increasing temperatures are also leading to a decrease in territory for local wildlife. This trend has decreased the prey populations of at-risk predators, such as snow leopards. Seeking alternative food sources, snow leopards and other predators attack local farmers’ livestock. This livestock consists of yaks, oxen, horses, and goats. Snow leopards have killed about 2.6% of the local livestock per year in response to their shrinking habitat. The overall loss, about a quarter of the average income of local farmers, has had a major impact on the local economy. In retaliation, farmers have begun killing snow leopards, seeking to protect their livestock and their livelihoods.

Nepal is a part of the Paris agreement and thus is required to have a climate action plan and is being tracked by the Climate Action Tracker. According to the Climate Action Tracker, Nepal is "almost sufficient" on its track to reach the goals set by the Paris Agreement. There are two factors that hold Nepal back from reaching sufficient status and thus stand out. There is no Climate Finance Plan and emissions and temperature rising rate ranking at critically insufficient. Nepal has many goals, however, that are on track with the Paris Agreement. The first of note being a goal of net-zero emissions by 2045. To reach this goal Nepal submitted two separate plans to account for whatever future they experience the first being WAM (with additional measures) and the second being WEM (with existing measures). WEM is based primarily on already existing policies and highlights the energy sector as the main target for CO2 reduction. The WAM scenario introduces a far more ambitious strategy for reducing emissions. In this scenario the focus is primarily on an intervention method and disruption of the energy sector reducing the use of fossil fuels and the incorporation of renewable energy sources. This pathway heavily relies on reducing emissions from energy sources while preserving the carbon-absorbing capacity of the LULUCF (Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry) sector. Under this scenario, it is anticipated that net CO2 emissions will remain negative from 2020 to 2030, approach 'zero' between 2035 and 2045, and then revert to negative values by 2050. The goal of this scenario is to accelerate the journey toward achieving carbon neutrality before 2045. These policies along with many more have Nepal on track to stay beneath the 1.5 threshold set by the Paris Agreement.

In recent years many citizens of these Himalayan communities have started to notice the extreme effects of climate change by experiencing nature itself. They have noticed a decrease in precipitation especially in lowland districts, fluctuating temperatures during months of the year that are typically cooler, and changes in weather patterns even compared to early 2000s weather. Many local villagers have identified climate change simply through the availability of certain native plants decreasing or shifting seasons. The concept of climate change has now been aligned with the risk of natural disasters and has increased awareness in the local communities. These impacts of climate change have greatly affected agriculture in the area and has forced farmers to change crops and when they plant them. In response to this rather than push for policy change, citizens have begun to adapt to climate change. According to Dhungana, 91.94% of the respondents experienced drought as major climatic hazards then floods at 83.87%, landslides at 70.97%, and forest fires at 67.74%. In response to this citizens have begun adapting and adopting new practices. As a response to drought at the high altitudes, plantations are planting more protective trees, drought resistant plants, and have begun adopting irrigation practices drawing from nearby streams. In response to flooding, farmers have created more basins, dam construction, and small drainage canals.

The response to landslides includes plantation grasses in previously barren areas, Gabion wall construction, avoiding livestock grazing in landslide-prone areas, and a prohibition on tillage in areas at risk of landslides. To fight the increased rate of forest fires, citizens have begun beating the fires with green branches and mud, construction of fire lines, and are raising awareness about the wildfires. Fire lines are lines of varying width built through the leaf litter of a forest floor down to the soil and minerals to prevent a spread of fire past the line. The main reason for these adaptations is to decrease the risk that climate change poses over these marginalized communities while taking advantage of the moment and allowing for a positive change towards a more sustainable or adaptable future. Major barriers to these adaptations include a lack of funds, a lack of knowledge, a lack of technology, a lack of time, and lack of mandatory policy.

There are many cultural and mythological aspects associated with the Himalayas. In Jainism, Mount Ashtapada of the Himalayan mountain range is a sacred place where the first Jain tirthankara, Rishabhanatha, attained moksha. It is believed that after Rishabhanatha attained nirvana, his son, Bharata, had constructed three stupas and twenty four shrines of the 24 tirthankaras with their idols studded with precious stones over there and named it Sinhnishdha. For the Hindus, the Himalayas are personified as Himavat, the king of all mountains and the father of the goddess Parvati. The Himalayas are also considered to be the father of the goddess Ganga (the personification of river Ganges). Two of the most sacred places of pilgrimage for the Hindus are the temple complex in Pashupatinath and Muktinath, also known as Shaligrama because of the presence of the sacred black rocks called shaligrams.

The Buddhists also lay a great deal of importance on the Himalayas. Paro Taktsang is the holy place where Buddhism started in Bhutan. The Muktinath is also a place of pilgrimage for the Tibetan Buddhists. They believe that the trees in the poplar grove came from the walking sticks of eighty-four ancient Indian Buddhist magicians or mahasiddhas. They consider the saligrams to be representatives of the Tibetan serpent deity known as Gawo Jagpa. The Himalayan people's diversity shows in many different ways. It shows through their architecture, their languages, and dialects, their beliefs and rituals, as well as their clothing. The shapes and materials of the people's homes reflect their practical needs and beliefs. Another example of the diversity amongst the Himalayan peoples is that handwoven textiles display colors and patterns unique to their ethnic backgrounds. Finally, some people place great importance on jewelry. The Rai and Limbu women wear big gold earrings and nose rings to show their wealth through their jewelry. Several places in the Himalayas are of religious significance in, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Islam and Hinduism. A notable example of a religious site is Paro Taktsang, where Padmasambhava is said to have founded Buddhism in Bhutan.

A number of Vajrayana Buddhist sites are situated in the Himalayas, in Tibet, Bhutan, and in the Indian regions of Ladakh, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Spiti, and Darjeeling. There were over 6,000 monasteries in Tibet, including the residence of the Dalai Lama. Bhutan, Sikkim, and Ladakh are also dotted with numerous monasteries.

The Himalayas are home to a diversity of medicinal resources. Plants from the forests have been used for millennia to treat conditions ranging from simple coughs to snake bites. Different parts of the plants – root, flower, stem, leaves, and bark – are used as remedies for different ailments. For example, a bark extract from an Abies pindrow tree is used to treat coughs and bronchitis. Leaf and stem paste from an Andrachne cordifolia is used for wounds and as an antidote for snake bites. The bark of a Callicarpa arborea is used for skin ailments. Nearly a fifth of the gymnosperms, angiosperms, and pteridophytes in the Himalayas are found to have medicinal properties, and more are likely to be discovered.

Most of the population in some Asian and African countries depends on medicinal plants rather than prescriptions and such. Since so many people use medicinal plants as their only source of healing in the Himalayas, the plants are an important source of income. This contributes to economic and modern industrial development both inside and outside the region. The only problem is that locals are rapidly clearing the forests on the Himalayas for wood, often illegally.

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