Rain thundershower is likely to lash Dehradun in the afternoon/evening on Tuesday while some areas in the mountains located at the altitude of 3000 meters and above might experience snowfall on the same day. The weathermen say that the sky would turn overcast as the day advances and the wet spell might come about during the afternoon or the evening hours. As an impact of the advent of the wet spell, the mercury might dip a bit, bringing the biting cold back for at least a couple of days. However, the Met department has made it clear that the climate would be clear by January 25 and the rain/snow might not affect the Republic Day celebration on Friday.
Monday saw a sunny day though in Dehradun. The maximum and minimum temperatures recorded in the city were 22.4 degree Celsius and 6.7 degree Celsius respectively here on the day while in Pantnagar it was 24 and 3.5 degree Celsius and in Mukteswar, it was 19 and 5.3 degree Celsius and in New Tehri it was 17.6 and 6.2 degree Celsius.
Fog continued to engulf the plain districts of the state like Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar districts on Monday. “Things are likely to continue this way for some more days,” said a weather official, adding that the expected two-day wet spell might help narrow the rain deficit the state is now having with the winter months remaining dry sans the expected volume of rain and snow. “In case it rains and snows in sufficient volume it would help the growers of the winter crops who are now grappling with a bleak agricultural scenario with rain/snow remaining elusive,” the Met official added.
Meteorological centre director Bikram Singh had said that during post-monsoon season in November and December, rainfall was scanty in the state. Uttarakhand had received 21.3 mm monsoon showers on the average against the normal figure of 89.6 mm, showing 76 per cent deficient rains as compared to the normal between November 1 and December 31, he had added. He had further said that while the departure -19 per to +19 per cent is normal the departure -20 per cent to -59 per cent is supposed to be deficient.