The weather trend forecast for the coming days might further extend the anxious waiting period for farmers facing the threat of crop damage due to inadequate rain and snowfall in the mountainous regions of the State. Apart from those involved in the agriculture and horticulture activities, members of the general public are also experiencing the health effects of weather conditions resulting from delay in rainfall in the plain areas.
According to information provided by the State Meteorological Centre on Sunday, the weather condition in Uttarakhand is forecast to remain dry across State on Monday. Fog/ shallow fog condition is likely to occur in some parts of the plains especially in the Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar districts at the start of the week. Ground frost is likely to occur at a few places in mountainous regions. For Dehradun on Monday, the meteorological centre has forecast a mainly clear sky with a rise in the maximum temperature and drop in the minimum temperature. The maximum and minimum temperatures in Dehradun are predicted to be about 20 degrees Celsius and 4 degrees Celsius on Monday.
On Sunday, the maximum temperatures recorded in different towns were 19.9 degrees Celsius and 4.5 degrees Celsius in Dehradun, 21 degrees Celsius and 2 degrees Celsius in Pantnagar, 12.8 degrees Celsius and 2.5 degrees Celsius in New Tehri, respectively while Mukteshwar in Kumaon region was the coldest town with maximum and minimum temperatures being recorded by the department at 12.5 degrees Celsius and 0.3 degrees Celsius, respectively.
Though the high altitude mountainous regions of the State have experienced a couple of spells of snowfall, the snowfall has been considerably less in quantity in comparison to snowfall records of past years for the corresponding time period. A few spells of light rain in the plains and mountainous regions have not been enough to bring about the conditions needed to ensure a good yield especially in the cultivation of fruits like the apple. In some cases, the farmers face a potentially considerable loss in various crops if the inadequacy and delay in rain and snowfall continue longer in coming days, observers point out. However, at present, there seems to be little respite with the desired snowfall and rainfall not being predicated so far in coming days.