The climate would remain generally dry in Uttarakhand till the end of January, say the weathermen a day after western disturbances-spawned rain and snow ended the long dry spell the state had to grapple with for a couple of months. “Things would be mostly dry for the next seven days with little possibility of rain or snow anywhere. However, fog would engulf the plain areas of the state, particularly Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar districts, during the morning hours on Thursday. The mercury would hover below the normal for the next two days and then it would return to the normal,” said Meteorological centre director Bikram Singh. He further said that the climate is likely to remain dry on Friday, the Republic Day. Meanwhile, while it rained in the plains on Tuesday and early Wednesday it snowed at several high-altitude places like Mukteshwar, Nainital, Ranikhet, Mussoorie, Dhanolti and Chakrata over the same period. The lowest minimum temperature of the state -3.2°C was recorded at Mukteshwar in Almora district on Wednesday.
Following the wet spell that continued into the late night hours, the residents of Dehradun woke up to a sunny morning on Wednesday. However, the morning hours were cold thanks to the rainy spell dragging for hours the previous day.
On Wednesday, the maximum temperature and minimum temperatures were recorded at 20.5 degree Celsius, normal, and 7.6 degree Celsius, two degree above the normal, in Dehradun while in Pantnagar, it was 22.0 degree Celsius, two notches above the normal, and 7.5 degree Celsius, two notches below the normal. In Mukteshwar, the maximum and minimum temperatures were recorded at 6.0 degree Celsius, seven notches below normal, and -3.2 degree Celsius, five notches below the normal. In Tehri, the maximum and minimum temperatures recorded were 10.2 degree Celsius and 0.8 degree Celsius respectively.
Singh said that the weather forecast for Dehradun on Thursday is mainly clear sky becoming partly cloudy towards afternoon/evening. The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to be around 21 degree Celsius and 6 degree Celsius respectively here on Thursday, he added.