Snowfall at Tiger Hill

TT, 16 February 2014: Tiger Hill in Darjeeling received the first heavy snowfall of the season from 12.40pm till 2.20pm on Sunday. The hill, at an elevation of 8,000 feet, did not record any snowfall in 2013. Two inches of white covered the looking point where tourists flock to see the Kanchenjungha sunrise.

At Tiger Hill, the minimum temperature read -3°C. On February 14, for six minutes there was light snow here. Darjeeling town, 14km from Tiger Hill, did not receive any snow. India Meteorological Department sources said that in the last 24 hours, the maximum temperature in Darjeeling town was 7.5°C, five degrees below normal, and the minimum was 1.7°C, a degree below normal.

The last time Tiger Hill saw snow was on January 11, 2012. The snowfall has eluded Darjeeling town residents since January 26, 2008. On Sunday, Darjeeling got a steady morning drizzle but after the snowfall at Tiger Hill, the sky cleared a bit.

“Light to moderate rainfall is expected in sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim in the next 24 hours,” said a MET department source. Few tourists were seen on Tiger Hill on Sunday. Kalyan Ghosh (picture below), a doctor at the Darjeeling District Hospital, rushed to Tiger Hill with his wife when he heard it had snowed there. “I have been posted in Darjeeling for the past two years and I have never seen snow. As soon as I heard it was snowing in Tiger Hill, I decided to come here along with my wife.”