Heavy snowfall warning issued for parts of three districts
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE | Dehradun/Jyotirmath
The weather took a turn in the State on Friday night with light to moderate rains in various parts in the plains along with snowfall in the higher reaches. The changed weather continued till Saturday morning in some parts and similar weather is forecast in parts of the State on Sunday. A heavy snowfall warning has also been issued for parts of some mountainous districts.
Even as various parts of the State witnessed above normal temperatures on Friday, the weather changed at night with thunder and light to moderate rain in the plains and mountainous areas coupled with snowfall in the high altitude mountainous regions. Though some respite from the warm weather was experienced during the rain, the temperatures remained above normal in places like Dehradun as the weather cleared with warm and sunny conditions being witnessed throughout the day. Meanwhile, the State Meteorological Centre has issued a yellow warning regarding the possibility of heavy snowfall likely to occur at isolated places in Uttarkashi, Chamoli and Pithoragarh districts on Sunday. Thunderstorms accompanied with lightning are also likely to occur at isolated places in the State’s district.
Apart from this, light to moderate rainfall is likely to occur at many places in Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag, Chamoli, Bageshwar Almora, Dehradun, Pauri and Pithoragarh districts. Further, very light to light rainfall is likely to occur at a few places in Champawat and Nainital and at isolated places in Haridwar districts today. The provisional State capital Dehradun is forecast to witness a partly cloudy sky with the possibility of very light to light rain/thunderstorms likely to occur in some areas. The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to be about 29 degrees Celsius and 14 degrees Celsius respectively in Dehradun.
Earlier, high altitude regions in the mountainous districts including Chamoli witnessed snowfall while the lower altitudes witnessed rain on Friday night. Fresh snowfall was reported in Badrinath and the Niti Valley. Till Saturday afternoon, the highway from Jyotirmath to Badrinath was reported to be blocked ahead of Hanumanchatti due to snowfall while the highway to Malari was also closed due to snowfall ahead of Bhapkund. Light snowfall was also reported in Auli but it melted after a short time. The snowfall and rain has brought the cold back in the upper Garhwal and Kumaon regions.
The maximum and minimum temperatures recorded in various parts of the State on Saturday were 30.2 degrees Celsius and 14.8 degrees Celsius respectively in Dehradun, 32.3 degrees Celsius and 17.8 degrees Celsius in Pantnagar, 14 degrees Celsius and 4.9 degrees Celsius in Mukteshwar and 15.7 degrees Celsius and 5.6 degrees Celsius in New Tehri.
