After the withdrawal of Southwest Monsoon, the wintry conditions have a tendency to set in in the hilly regions inclusive of three states of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Usually, the month of October doesn’t see much rains and this month marks the beginning of Winters for these states.
The month of October is seeing a large rain deficiency in this region till now with Himachal Pradesh being rain deficient by 71%, Jammu and Kashmir by 35% and Uttarakhand by a whopping 94%. These figures are not likely to show any improvement now.
The months of October and November mark the beginning of winters while in the month of December, January and February, winters are at its peak in this region of the country. December also sees snowfall activity in the most visited hill stations like Shimla, Srinagar, Kashmir, Dalhousie and higher reaches of Chamba.
However, October too has brought in first snowfall of the season, mid-month in many higher reaches like that of Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir wherein highways were blocked.
Looking forward at the forecast and upcoming weather conditions for the hills then we can say that remaining October will be generally dry and minimum temperatures will soar as the prevailing Western Disturbance is soon clearing the area. If we look at the pattern for hilly areas, absence of any weather activity (in terms of precipitation) in Northern regions brings in chilly weather with minimum temperatures soaring below normal at this time. However day will be sunny with a pretty pleasant weather. Its the best time for travelers who want to experience Himalayan winters to plan their trip.
However, a system is soon approaching the area and thus the first week of November will see good rains.
Image Credits – Thrillophilia
Any information taken from here should be credited to Skymet Weather