The gigantic peaks, lush green valleys, clustering sound of river and the beautiful blanket of snow make hills of the country look no less than a heaven.
Since last few days, the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh as well as Uttarakhand have been witnessing rain and snow activities.
During the course of both Saturday and Sunday, almost all the well-known hilly resorts and cities including Gulmarg, Pahalgam, Srinagar, Shimla, Manali, Kullu, Dharamsala, Dalhousie, Nainital, Mussoorie, Kufri, Rohtang Pass, Leh, Kupwara, Nahan, Keylong, and many others experienced fair amount of rain and snow.
Moreover, due to widespread snowfall over all the three hilly states of North India, Cold Wave conditions have gripped the entire region. In fact, the day temperatures have dipped to an extent that they are now settling 8-10 degrees below the normal levels.
In terms of rain and snow, hills of North India witnessed least weather activity yesterday. However, due to significant clouding, day temperatures too have gone to minus degrees at one or two places.
Today morning brought some short spells of rain and snow over parts of hills of North India. Srinagar was also lashed with snow in morning. Likewise, many popular hilly resorts and cities as well as higher reaches of Uttarakhand observed intense weather activity. On the other hand, Shimla, Kullu and Manali witnessed comparatively lesser intensity of weather activity.
Talking about temperatures, the beautiful town in Jammu & Kashmir ‘Leh’ has recorded its maximums at -1.5 during last 24 hours. Likewise, minimums too have reached sub zero mark over higher valleys. For example, Gulmarg has recorded its minimums at -9℃, Pahalgam at -4.9℃ and Srinagar at -2℃.
Generally any short breather in between does not result in clear weather. This is because, after the passage of a system, its remnants stay for another 24 hours. Thus, the valleys as well as high terrain mountains keep getting trapped by remnants even if the Western Disturbance moves away.
Now, a breather is expected to be witnessed for about a day i.e on January 9. Further, clouding will persist but it will not result in any significant rains over the region.
Thereafter, another active system is expected to make an appearance which will give rain and snow over hills of North India. The coming three consecutive days I.e Friday, Saturday and Sunday will witness widespread rain and snow over the hilly regions. Talking about intensity, the weather activity will be at its extreme on January 12, slightly reduce on 13 and by January 14, we can expect slight chances of clearance of weather. However, chances of long clearance are completely ruled out.
Thus, looking at present scenario, tourists are advised to avoid going to the hills this weekend due to the upcoming spell of rain and snowfall.
Image Credits – Wikipedia
Any information taken from here should be credited to Skymet Weather