Fresh snowfall in several hill areas of the state has helped the mercury dip further. Light snowfall occurred in the famed tourist spot Mussoorie and things are conducive for snowfall in the lake city Nainital too to the delight of the tourists and the hoteliers.

It is learnt that Nainital recorded light snowfall in the evening. Notably, it had snowed in the higher reaches of the hills and drizzled in Dehradun on Wednesday morning under the impact of the western disturbance now active in Uttarakhand.

Dehradun experienced rain on Thursday morning too and the continuing wet spell added to the chill of the winter. As per the regional meteorological centre officers, it might rain across a vast swathe of the state on Friday too.

The districts likely to be lashed by rain include Uttarkashi , Chamoli and Pithoragarh on the day. It might also snow lightly in the higher reaches of these districts, as the weather forecast.   The forecast warned that ground frost is likely to occur in some parts of the hills over the next 24 hours.

The regional meteorological centre officers said that the state would experience the wet spell for a few more days. However, once the climate clears there would be a substantial dip in the minimum temperature across the state which would make the chill more biting.  They further said that the places situated at a height of 2500 metres and more would witness light to moderate snowfall on Friday.

Meanwhile, Dehradun woke up to a cloudy sky on Thursday too-the second consecutive day- and it rained in the city in the morning. The tourist destination Mussoorie experienced the season’s maiden snowfall on the day. The same was the case with another tourist destination Nanital in Kumaon region. It too recorded its first snowfall this season though it snowed lightly.    The weather officers said that the spell of the snowfall and the rain would continue till the time the western disturbance remains active in the state. 

Meanwhile, the mercury has been plummeting  fast across the state and the minimum temperature has dipped down to -0.9 degree Celsius at Mukteshwar in Nainital district on Thursday.

In Dehradun, while the maximum temperature settled at 17.1 degree Celsius, five notches below the normal, the minimum was 10.1 degree Celsius, three notches above the normal, on Thursday. While  the maximum temperature is likely to  rise a little the maximum might come down by  three notches on Friday, as per the forecast.

Elsewhere in the state, in Pantnagar, the maximum and minimum temperatures were recorded at 23.2 degree Celsius, five notches below normal, and 6.9 degree Celsius, one degree above the normal, respectively on Wednesday.   At Mukteshwar, the maximum and minimum temperatures were recorded at 3.2 degree Celsius, 11 notches below the normal, and -0.9  degree Celsius, five notches below the normal. In New Tehri, the maximum and minimum temperatures recorded were 9.6 degree Celsius and 3.2 degree Celsius respectively.