Mussoorie has first snowfall of the season

A hill covered with the season’s first snowfall in Mussoorie on Saturday.

Mussoorie, January 7
Residents and tourists alike were thrilled to see the Queen of Hills and the surrounding hill ranges donning a white mantle today. This winter has been different in Mussoorie, as it has been waiting for snow till this day. The overnight ominous clouds finally obliged with the shower covering the town with white blanket of snow. Children, in particular, came out of their houses wearing woollens and frolicked in the first snowfall of the season by hurling snowballs at each other.
The belated snow and rain also brought cheers to farmers, especially the apple growers from Mussoorie-Dhanaulti apple belt, whose crops had been affected by the prolonged dry spell.
While the town received 2 to 4 inches of snow, the adjoining tourist spot at Dhanaulti recorded five to eight inches of snow.
The high reaches of Naag Tibba and surrounding peaks were receiving heavy snowfall since last night.
The snowfall accompanied by high-velocity icy winds snapped power transmission lines at some places and disrupted the services temporarily. Electricity Department officials had to come out in the bitter cold to fix the faulty lines amid the snow showers, making it difficult for them to work.
Neena, a tourist from Kolkota, was immensely excited to witness falling snow for the first time. Speaking to The Tribune, she said that was an awesome experience to watch snowflakes falling like cotton balls from the
sky. “My family had arrived in the town yesterday and was lucky to witness the snowfall here,” added Neena. With the Met Department predicting more snow and rain, the tourists have extended their stay for a day more. However, birds and wild animals were seen having a torrid time and were seen huddling close to each other to avoid the bitter cold.

Old residents of the town were of the view that the snow had become a rare incident now. RS Sharma, a senior citizen, said that the town that used to witness more than 12 feet of snow in the past, blamed the rampant construction and global warming for the decreasing snowfall in the town.

Met forecasts snow in higher reaches

DEHRADUN: Cold wave conditions prevailed in the state as the higher reaches experienced snowfall. Many parts of the state witnessed rain spells in the past 24 hours. According to Executive Director of the Dehradun Meteorological Department Anand Sharma, rains or snowfall is likely to continue in higher reaches of the state. Similar condition will prevail in other parts of Uttarakhand till Sunday morning.

Meanwhile, last night rains disrupted traffic movement on the roads. According to the Disaster Mitigation and Management Centre, Dehradun, Dharasu-Barkot National highway has been blocked at Radi whereas the Rishikesh-Gangotri National Highway has been blocked at Harshil in the Uttarkashi district due to snowfall.

Passengers have a tough time

PITHORAGARH: Passengers from Munsiyari en route to the district headquarter of Pithoragarh have to face a lot of inconvenience as the heavy snowfall last night has caused a road blockage at the Kalamuni mountains.

“The snow-cutter machine with the department is not in a working condition; therefore, the department will have to arrange one or repair the same machine to open the road,” said AS Bisht, Subdivision Officer of the PWD.

According to PWD sources, the road is likely to be opened in the next two days as more than 2 ft snow has accumulated on the Kalamuni crossing of the road linking the remote hill station with the district headquarter. “The people of Malla Johar face this sort of problem every year during winter as the snow cutter machine lying with the department remain in the non-working condition,” said Gulab Singh Pangti, president of the Malla Johar Vikash Samiti, Munsiyari.

According to the meteorology unit of the ITBP , the peaks of Chiplakedar, Khalia Top and Kalamuni have witnessed more than 3 ft of snow in the past five hours and the valleys of Byans on the Kailash Mansarowar route have witnessed more than 5 ft of snow in this sudden change of the weather.

The Byans Valley has witnessed snowfall on Gala onwards, covering the adjoining mountains for the first time in this season.

Tourists make a beeline

NAINITAL: Apart from the higher reaches, the town too witnessed snowfall, although the snow melted as fast as it fell in the main town. The areas of Cheena Peak and Kilbury Road witnessed a heavy snowfall. The tourists made a beeline to the Kilbury Road. The roadside stalls in the town selling woollens did brisk business throughout the day. This was the second snowfall of the season in the town.