Mussoorie is all set to celebrate the Valentine’s Day a bit more exuberantly on Sunday as the Queen of Hills received the season’s maiden snowfall on Saturday.
Besides, snowfall that remained elusive for the celebrated hill station the last winter season and till Saturday this year, has brought cheers for the tourists as well as business communities. Other hill stations like Dhanaulti and Chakrata located above 2500 meters experienced snowfall while Dehradun had rains since the morning. Enthused by the news of snowfall, a large number of people, including tourists and locals, rushed to Mussoorie, Dhanaulti, Chamba, Kanatal, Chakrata and other places to witness what can be called the consummation of the winter season. They were mostly from western parts of Uttar Pradesh.
The onrush of people continuing, the administration has gone on high gear in Mussoorie and other places where snowfall has occurred. The officials have been directed to be vigilant to avert untoward incident.
The snowy/rainy spell has made the maximum temperature plunge by 10 degree Celsius. Things were the same in Dehradun as the city’s maximum temperature plummeted by 10 degree as compared to Friday. Rain continuing till evening, most of the residents chose to confine themselves within the warmth of their houses. Fires were seen lighted on the roadsides in the morning and around noon to beat the biting cold. Traffic on the roads considerably thinned.
The Uttarakhand Meteorological Centre has forecast dry weather on Sunday, adding that the mercury has dipped to sub-zero degree in many of the high altitude areas of the State.
The weather forecast for Dehradun on Sunday is clear to partly cloudy sky. The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to be hovering around 20ºC and 8 ºC respectively in Dehradun on Sunday.
The Met director Bikram Singh further informed that the maximum and minimum temperatures were recorded at 14.6ºC and 8.6ºC in Dehradun while it was 8.0ºC and 3.4ºC in Tehri, 13.8ºC and 3.5ºC in Mukteshwar and 25.2ºC and 6.0ºC in Pantnagar on Saturday.
Singh said that very light to light rainfall was reported in Bageshwar and Pithoragarh of Kumaon region while no rainfall was reported from the plains of the region. light to moderate rainfall with snow has been reported from the higher reaches of three districts- Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag and Chamoli- of Garhwal region.
He said rain accompanied with snowfall has been recorded in the higher reaches of four districts-Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag, Chamoli and Pithoragarh- on Saturday. The weather forecast for Uttarakhand on Sunday dry weather. Things would remain dry on Monday too. However, the Met office has forecast partly to generally cloudy sky and light rain/snow at isolated places in Uttarakhand on February 16 and February 17.