Mercury dips as Darjeeling gets winter feel

SNS, Darjeeling: With Darjeeling experiencing clear, sunny days until yesterday,the feel of the winter had so far eluded the town, with people often talking how beautiful the weather has been. However, residents here got the first real chill of this winter season today with the minimum temperature at the popular tourist spot Tiger Hill dipping to a low of 2 degrees Celsius. While the daytime temperature recorded in the town areas was 10 degrees Celsius, Sandakhpu, another popular tourist area, about 61 km from here and standing at a height of 11,600 feet, stalled experiencing minus temperature from last night, it is learnt.

"There was a little chill in the air the past few days, but the sudden drop in the temperature came as a surprise today. Until yesterday, the daytime temperatures fluctuated around 15 degrees Celsius to 17 degrees with the nights and mornings being quite cold. Looking at the day today,we feel the temperature at night will dip further," said Prashant Giri, a local resident.

Until yesterday, the weather had been very good, with clear skies throughout the day, while the entire range of Mount Kanchenjunga could  be viewed. However, the Sun as well as the majestic mountain gave Darjeeling folk a miss today.

Tiger Hill, which is about 12 km from here and which stands at a height of 2,560 metres, saw temperatures during the daytime fluctuating around 8 degree Celsius, with the minimum it there being 2 degree Celsius in the morning. Sandakphu, on the other hand, last night had a -2 reading, while the daytime temperature was around 5 degree Celsius today.

"A minus temperature was experienced last night at Sandakphu, and looking at the weather, there could be chances of snowfall any day soon," the Singalila Land Rover Association general secretary, Chandan Pradhan, said. Owing to thorough terrain at Sandakphu, the only vehicles that ply there are Land Rovers. Mr Pradhan maintained that around six Land Rovers took tourists to Sandakphu today. A single Land Rover can accommodate about eight passengers.

It may be mentioned here that the upper reaches of Darjeeling town had witnessed snowfall on Januarya 28, 2008. however, high altitude areas in Darjeeling like Sandakphu and Tiger Hill experience snowfall almost every year.

While'Tiger Hill saw its last snowfall on January 27,2016, Sandakphu saw five inches of snow on March 20 last year. The area saw snowfall on January 2, January 10, March 11, and March 18 too, last year.