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Dawki river water: will the Umngot be clear on your date?
The famous "boat floating on glass" photos of Dawki are real, but only in the dry season. In the monsoon the Umngot runs brown, and even in winter a heavy rain upstream clouds it for a day or two. Pick your date to see what to expect.
Will Dawki's water be clear on your date?
The season sets the colour; rain upstream in the 3 days before can cloud it. For dates in the next two weeks we check the rain forecast too.
Month by month
An estimate from the season and rain forecast (Open-Meteo) for the hills upstream, not a live camera. Our drivers check the river the day before your trip.
Dawki river water month by month
| Month | Water | Boating | What to expect |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | Crystal clear | Running | Clearest and coldest. Low, calm water. |
| February | Crystal clear | Running | Still glass-clear; fewer crowds than December. |
| March | Crystal clear | Running | Clear early in the month; first spring showers later. |
| April | Clear | Running | Mostly clear; a storm upstream can cloud it for a day or two. |
| May | Hazy | Running | Pre-monsoon rain starts turning the water green. |
| June | Muddy | Often paused | Monsoon: brown water, high flow. |
| July | Muddy | Often paused | Peak monsoon. Come for the waterfalls instead. |
| August | Muddy | Often paused | Still monsoon flow and silt. |
| September | Muddy | Some days | Rain easing; water still brown most days. |
| October | Hazy | Running | Settling after the monsoon; clearer by the end of the month. |
| November | Clear | Running | Clears week by week; busy with tourists. |
| December | Crystal clear | Running | Clear and busy, especially 24 Dec – 1 Jan. |
Why the Umngot turns clear, and why rain clouds it
The Umngot drains the hills between Shillong and the Bangladesh border. In the monsoon, rain washes soil off those hills and the river runs high and brown. Once the rain stops in October, the silt settles, the flow drops, and by December the water is clear enough to see stones several metres down.
Rain upstream reverses that for a while. The checker adds up the forecast rain for the three days before your date over the catchment above Dawki: about 15 mm can haze the water for a day or two, and 40 mm or more usually makes it cloudy. Beyond about two weeks there is no reliable forecast, so it shows the usual for the month.
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