Hordes of people from several neighbouring States are thronging Mussoorie, Dhanaulti and Chakrata after these hill stations have been experiencing the season’s maiden heavy snowfall since Friday night.
The mercury plummeting to sub zero on Friday night and Saturday morning at the queen of hills Mussoorie, it hovered in the neighbourhood of 0 to 1 degree in the day. While Chakrata experienced six inches of snowfall it was the same at Surkanda Devi while 4 inches at Dhanaulti and Tehri, and two inches in Mussoorie. Weathermen said that it would snow throughout the Saturday night. However, things would start clearing from Sunday morning.
More are in store as, according to the Met officials, it might snow again for two days from January 14. Besides, heavy snowfall was reported from the high altitude areas located above 2000 metres in several districts like Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag, Chamoli and Pithoragarh on Saturday.
It also rained in the plain districts like Dehradun, Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar since Friday night, triggering a massive dip in the maximum temperature and bringing a kind of freezing cold. Met director Bikram Singh said that the lowest minimum temperature -0.4°C was recorded in Tehri. Tourists rushing in their droves throughout Saturday with the number set to rise substantially on Sunday have cheered the hoteliers and traders based in Mussoorie and its neighbourhood. “We kept incurring losses with the bookings being cancelled in the aftermath of the November’s demonetization drive.
Now, things are looking up as most of the hotels are chock a block with tourists,” said the manger of a hotel based in the queen of hills. Meanwhile, SDRF personnel have been deployed at the higher reaches of the state following the reports of snowfall to take on any emergency.