Moderate rainfall accompanied by snow in the higher reaches and light to moderate rainfall at isolated places in the plains of the State brought the temperature down by a few notches on Friday.
Uttarakhand Meteorological Centre has forecast rain at isolated places in the plains while higher reaches in the hills could witness rain and even snowfall on Saturday. However, there is little likelihood of Mussoorie experiencing the season’s maiden snowfall this time. Dehradun witnessed drizzling throughout the day on Friday. By the evening, it abated. However, the drizzle brought maximum temperatures down by nine Degrees. On Thursday, the maximum and minimum temperatures were recorded 23.1°C and 7.4°C respectively in Dehradun.
Doon residents woke up on Friday to an overcast sky. Rains followed soon and dragged on for hours. The elderly chose not to come out for their customary morning walks. Students enjoyed things as the schools and colleges are closed with the winter vacation on. Traffic was thin as compared to normal days.
Mussoorie also witnessed drizzling in the day. Dehradun, Mukteshwar, Tehri, Pantnagar, Pithoragarh and Nainital witnessed light to moderate rain and thundershowers at isolated places. Things would continue in the next 24 hours, said Uttarakhand Meteorological Centre director Anand Sharma on Friday.
8 mm rainfall was recorded in Dehradun while 10.4 mm in Mukteshwar, 1.7 mm in Tehri, 2.4 mm in Pantnagar by Friday evening. By 8.30 am on Friday, trace was reported in Dehradun while the figures were 4 mm in Nainital, 1 mm in Haridwar, 1.8 mm in Pithoragarh, 2.8 mm in Pantnagar, 0.1 mm in Tehri and 2.4 mm in Mukteshwar respectively.
Sharma attributed this to western disturbances and induced cyclonic circulation over Haryana and neighbouring districts of Uttar Pradesh. Sharma said that the maximum and minimum temperatures were recorded at 14.3°C and 9.6°C respectively in Dehradun on Friday. While the maximum dipped significantly the minimum rose by two Degrees in the state capital.
The weather forecast for Dehradun on Saturday is generally cloudy sky and thunder cloud development/ light rain at many places in the district. The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to be around 16°C and 09°C respectively on Saturday in Dehradun. The weather forecast for Uttarakhand is generally cloudy to cloudy sky. light to moderate rain/snow would occur at many places in Uttarakhand. 05 to 10 cm snowfall in depth may occur at places with height of around 3000 metres. More than moderate (20-50 mm) rainfall could occur at isolated places in Pithoragarh, Bageshwar, Almora and Nainital districts.