Snowfall in the higher reaches has made the mercury dip across Uttarakhand, brining the real winter chill the people have been waiting for for some time. Meanwhile, dense fog enveloped the plains of Dehradun district on Thursday which might continue for some more days, say the weathermen. The highest maximum temperature of 21.3°C was recorded at Dehradun while the lowest minimum temperature of 2.8°C was recorded at Mukteshwar on Friday.
People in the State capital are reeling under the cold wave conditions with the minimum temperature dipping every passing day. Very few people were seen out at the parks or the roads during the morning hours. Senior citizens are now giving their morning walks a miss. Doctors have advised the elderly against going out for such walks during the morning and evening hours. With the winter turning chilling, the Dehradun district administration has directed the officials to lit wood stoves at public places like railway stations and bus stations to help the people beat the cold.
Vikaslok resident K N Bhatt, aged around 65 years, said that he has been giving his morning and evening walks a miss for the last few days due to the chilling cold.
Meteorological centre director Bikram Singh said that on Friday, the maximum temperature and minimum temperatures were recorded 21.3 degree Celsius (normal), and 7.4 (normal), respectively in Dehradun. In Pantnagar, the maximum and minimum temperatures recorded are 19.0 degree Celsius, four degree below the normal, and 11.5 degree Celsius, five degree above the normal, respectively.
In Mukteshwar, the maximum and minimum temperatures recorded are 15.0 degree Celsius, normal, and 2.8, one degree below the normal. In Tehri, the maximum and minimum temperatures recorded are 15.2 degree Celsius and 5.2 degree Celsius. The Met official further said that fog is likely to occur especially in morning hours in some parts of plains of Uttarakhand, especially in Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar districts, while isolated places in the hills would experience ground frost in early morning/morning hours.
While the sky was clear in Dehradun in the morning it got cloudy during the noon.
Things would be mainly clear in Dehradun on Saturday, said Singh, adding that the maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to hover around 21 degree Celsius and 7 degree Celsius respectively in the city on Saturday.
The weather forecast for Uttarakhand on Saturday is mainly clear to partly cloudy sky and dry weather.