Sun for Darjeeling, snow for Sikkim....Clear sky in hills, fog below

TT, 25 January 2018, Siliguri: The queen of hills sparkled in bright sunshine since Thursday morning with a clear view of the magnificent Kanchanjunga while towns and villages in the foothills remained in thick fog cover till the afternoon.

In Darjeeling town, though the temperature dipped to 2.4 degrees during past 24 hours, no snowfall was recorded. On Wednesday, there had been snowfall in some of the upper reaches of the district, much to the delight of locals.

(Top) People enjoy a sunny day at Chowrasta in Darjeeling on Thursday;   
dense fog covers Siliguri. Picture by Passang Yolmo 

In Sikkim, however, fresh snowfall was recorded on Thursday early morning in some parts of north and east Sikkim, including Changu Lake, Baba Mandir and Nathu La.

"It is true that the sky remained clear in Darjeeling on Thursday. But a cyclonic circulation continues to persist at around 3.1 km above mean sea level over Sikkim and neighbouring areas which can lead to snowfall," said a weather expert.

In Siliguri, the minimum temperature came down to around nine degrees while it was just above eight degrees in Cooch Behar.

In Sikkim, Gangtok had a minimum temperature of around five degrees.

Due to the fog cover, daily chores of residents in Siliguri and adjoining areas got affected.

"It was quite tough for me to arrive at the school in time after picking up over 40 children from different locations. In this season, I haven't seen such dense fog even in localities of the city. I had to drive slow and cautiously," said Ramesh Lama, driver of a school bus.

Some others, who had to take morning flights, were perturbed.

"I was worried to see the fog cover even at 9.30am as I had to take a flight at 12.15pm. But the weather started getting clear from 11am and onwards," Ajanta Dutta, a teacher, said.

Weather experts said such conditions would prevail for next two-three days.

"The weather was dry and there was moderate to dense fogs in most of the places over sub-Himalayan Bengal. Such weather conditions are likely to continue for next couple of days," said the expert.