What should I wear to Big Almaty Lake in summer?

The modelled July average near the lake at 2,508 m is about 17 °C by day and 8 °C at night, with around 132 mm of precipitation that month. Bring a warm layer and a rain shell even if Almaty feels hot.

Can it snow in the Almaty mountains in summer?

Yes. The UK’s travel advice says snow is possible even in summer, and snow fell in the Almaty mountains on 24–25 August 2026.

How much colder is it per 100 m?

Measurements between the Mynzhilki and Tuyuksu-1 stations averaged 0.6 °C per 100 m. Treat it as a rule of thumb for the high mountains.

Almaty mountain weather by altitude and month

Almaty mountain weather depends more on altitude than on the calendar. The drop from the city to Big Almaty Lake is almost 12 °C on an average July day. Dress for the top of your day, not for the city.

Average daytime high in July, °C, by point altitude

Almaty, 814 m 28.3
Medeu, 1,702 m 21.4
Kok-Zhailau, 2,158 m 18.9
Shymbulak, 2,290 m 17.3
Big Almaty Lake, 2,508 m 16.6

ERA5 reanalysis (Open-Meteo), 2011–2020. Modelled points, not weather stations.

Reading these numbers

Two kinds of data appear here, and they cannot be compared line by line.

The Mynzhilki figures are station measurements from 1937–2006, published in Kazhydromet’s journal: a monthly mean across day and night. The other figures are ERA5 reanalysis, a computer model of past weather for 2011–2020, giving separate daytime highs and night lows. We could not open Kazhydromet’s 1991–2020 normals for these stations. For tomorrow’s forecast, use Kazhydromet.

Temperature by altitude and month

Each cell shows day / night in °C.

Month	Almaty, 814 m	Medeu, 1,702 m	Shymbulak, 2,290 m	Big Almaty Lake, 2,508 m
January	−0.1 / −8.8	−2.5 / −10.7	−6.5 / −14.1	−6.7 / −15.0
April	15.6 / 5.1	9.5 / 1.0	5.6 / −2.2	5.1 / −2.8
May	20.6 / 9.9	14.3 / 4.9	9.9 / 1.2	9.6 / 1.0
July	28.3 / 16.8	21.4 / 11.9	17.3 / 8.2	16.6 / 7.9
August	27.0 / 15.7	20.3 / 10.9	16.2 / 7.3	15.6 / 7.0
October	14.6 / 4.2	9.2 / −0.4	5.2 / −4.0	4.9 / −4.5

If you arrive in May, nights at Shymbulak height are still only about 1 °C. For one site in detail, see Shymbulak weather and Almaty weather.

Mynzhilki: the station at 3,017 m

This long record, from the head of the Malaya Almatinka valley, shows how short the warm season is high up. Monthly means sit above freezing only from May to September.

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
−11.3	−10.7	−7.0	−2.1	1.9	5.5	7.9	7.4	3.8	−1.2	−6.4	−9.5

The annual mean is −1.8 °C, with extremes of −32 °C (1969) and +24 °C (1975). The record ends in 2006, and the author found warming of about 0.2 °C per decade across the series, so recent summers may run a little warmer. An avalanche destroyed the station on 10 November 1941, killing two observers, which is a fair reminder of winter conditions here.

Rain and snow: the wet months are not the ones you expect

Spring and early summer are wettest in the mountains. Mynzhilki gets 72% of its 851 mm a year from April to August, peaking at 151 mm in June.

Climate comparison

All charts share one scale, so bars compare directly: higher on the scale means warmer, a longer bar means a bigger gap between day and night.

Monthly figures: day / night, °C · precip., mm
Month	Almaty	Medeu	Shymbulak	Big Almaty Lake
Jan	0 / −8 · 25	−4 / −11 · 25	−8 / −13 · 25	−7 / −14 · 32
Feb	3 / −6 · 37	−2 / −9 · 37	−6 / −12 · 37	−5 / −12 · 44
Mar	10 / 1 · 80	4 / −4 · 80	0 / −7 · 80	0 / −7 · 66
Apr	17 / 7 · 146	9 / 0 · 146	5 / −2 · 146	5 / −3 · 132
May	22 / 11 · 115	14 / 4 · 115	10 / 1 · 115	10 / 1 · 125
Jun	26 / 15 · 76	19 / 8 · 76	14 / 5 · 76	14 / 5 · 142
Jul	29 / 17 · 50	22 / 11 · 50	17 / 8 · 50	17 / 8 · 152
Aug	28 / 16 · 58	20 / 10 · 58	16 / 7 · 58	16 / 7 · 146
Sep	23 / 12 · 53	16 / 6 · 53	12 / 3 · 53	12 / 3 · 123
Oct	16 / 5 · 60	9 / −1 · 60	5 / −4 · 60	5 / −4 · 107
Nov	7 / −2 · 56	1 / −8 · 56	−3 / −10 · 56	−2 / −11 · 75
Dec	1 / −6 · 31	−3 / −10 · 31	−6 / −12 · 31	−6 / −13 · 42

ERA5 normal for 2011–2020 at a reanalysis grid point. Not a forecast and not a weather station. Source: Open-Meteo, ERA5 reanalysis, 2011–2020.

In July, ERA5 gives about 132 mm near Big Almaty Lake against about 44 mm in the city, so a dry morning in town says little about conditions up high. Heavy summer rain also drives mudflow risk, and the UK warns of snow even in summer.

Packing list by altitude

These choices follow from the tables above.

Above 2,000 m in summer: warm layer and rain shell.
Sun: the UK warns of sunstroke and severe sunburn at altitude.
Afternoon: plan your descent early; highs and lows at the upper points differ by 8–9 °C.
Overnight in May or September: a sleeping bag for about 0 °C, and check the camping rules.

Not verified yet We could not confirm: current Kazhydromet normals for Mynzhilki, Shymbulak and Big Almaty Lake; an open data series for a station at the lake. Reanalysis does not capture gorge effects or wind on ridges.