Darjeeling still awaits snowfall

Winter season is more than half way through and within another few days, possible decline in extreme temperatures may be witnessed. Almost all locations in Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand that record snowfall have already experienced few spells. And more such spells seem to be in the offing in the next fortnight or so.

However, Darjeeling, the queen of hills in Sub Himalayan West Bengal still awaits snowfall. Undoubtedly, Darjeeling remains an unrivalled favourite tourist destination. The station gets thronged by hundreds of tourists during the likely dates of snowfall. With an altitude of about 7000 feet, Darjeeling experiences extreme weather conditions in January and is even frequented by hailstorm. Snowfall however, is not very common and may not happen every year. Without any firm assurance, the preferred period remains late December and the month of January.  Snowfall in Darjeeling was last witnessed on 11^th January 2012.

The higher tourist locations around Darjeeling like Sandakphu, with an elevation of 3636 mtrs, has already experienced season`s first snowfall on 14^th Dec 2013. Following this, there was a mad rush of tourists to Darjeeling but they were not lucky enough to witness any snowfall and the wait still continues. Incidentally, Sandakphu is on trek route and is mostly attempted by the adventurous ones. Areas near Sandakphu , like Tonglu and Phalut have also received snowfall but the peripheral spots of city like Ghum and Jorebunglow may have to extend their wait till the next season.