Cold wave condition, sweeping across Uttarakhand, has sent the people to shiver, a day before the Christmas.
As per the weather forecast issued by the regional meteorological department on Monday, the climate would remain generally dry and the sky would be mostly clear to partly cloudy. Mist might form in several areas in the plains and the consequently visibility is likely to drop substantially particularly in the morning hours.
Things in Dehradun are also the same with the people choosing to remain indoors under the piles of woollens after the day ends and the dusk descends. The people say that only respite during this freezing cold is left in the heat the sun bestows during the day. “But the day is now ending fast and once the sun sets the shivering starts. We are bracing up for more freezing days as the mercury will sink further during the end of this month,” said a senior citizen living near the Rajpur Road.
However, on the other side of things, the Christmas and New Year near, the tourists and the trekkers have been thronging the high-altitude places cradled in the Garhwal to enjoy the chilled winter in their hordes. Popular spots like Auli in Chamoli district and Chopta in Rudraprayag district are now brimming with the inflow of the tourists who are streaming in from far-off places to enjoy the nature’s bounty and snowfall in the higher reaches of the Himalayas. “We are exulted as we hope to enjoy a snowy Christmas at Chopta for the first time. We have been enjoying the chilling cold for the past two days we have been here. The trekking routes are still under a thick layer of snow. Snow changing into ice at many places, there is a possibility of slip. The hills and the slopes are all white now. We are stumbling on the snow as we are not habituated to trudge on such snowy places.
However, we do not mind the repeated fall. We are enjoying this too,” said a tourist Narendra Sigh Rawat. He further said that they had ascended to Tungnath and even Chandrashila. “These places look celestial against the whitey marvel of nature,” he exclaimed.
As per the weather forecast issued for Tuesday, the climate would be generally dry in the state, though clouds might cover the sky partly. In Dehradun, dense fog/ mist is likely to form in the plain areas in the early morning hours on the day and the sky would be partly cloudy.
Meanwhile, the mercury in Dehradun continues to settle in the neighbourhood of 5 degree Celsius while the maximum is likely to hover around 21 degree Celsius on Tuesday. The Met officers said that the mercury is likely to sink further in the coming few days.