Heavy snowfall leaves Sikkim Shivering

SNS, 30 November 2017, Gangtok: Heavy snowfall in the north-eastern part of Sikkim, including the Tsongmo (Chhangu) Lake and surrounding areas in East Sikkim, has triggered a spell of cold wave in the Himalayan state.

While people in the capital Gangtok got a taste of the bitter cold wave to day and several people chose to stay indoors, the weathermen predicted light rainfall in the lower fringes of the state and more snowfall in high altitude regions.

According to the Director of the Meteorology Centre in Gangtok, GN Raha, the state is receiving rainfall and snowfall for the past two days. "This is due to the upper air trough in the western surface over this region. The same weather conditions will continue for another 48 hours," Dr Raha said.

According to the meteorological Centre, the capital city's maximum night-time temperature was 8.6° Celsius while the maximum daytime temperature was 12° C.

It may be mentioned here that the Chhangu Lake area is a major tourist draw in Sikkim and tourism officials hare said that the Himalayan state may be able to pull a large number of tourists this winter, given the slack tourism business in the nearby hills of Darjeeling and Kalimpong this time around.