Darjeeling: Rain, hail, sleet, light snow

MP: Darjeeling town experienced rain, hail, sleet, light snow with intermittent sunshine on Tuesday. Not that anybody was complaining as locals and tourists alike went about enjoying all of this in a single day. 

At around 10:30 am with overcast skies there was a spell of sleet and very light snow. This was followed by hail and rain. Finally, it was sleet again till 2:30 pm followed by sunshine for a brief period.

"I haven't ever experienced such different weather conditions in a single day. It was magnificent. As soon as it started to snow we rushed to the Chowrasta. It was a lovely experience for us," stated Rajesh Sharma, a tourist from Kanpur. 

The day temperature hovered around 3.5 degree Celsius. 

Tourists and local residents thronged the Darjeeling Chowrasta with busy shutterbugs making the most of the weather. The upper reaches including Sadakphu, Phalut along with neighbouring Sikkim also witnessed snowfall. On December 28, 2018, it had snowed in Darjeeling town after a long gap of 10 years. 

"The snow in the upper reaches along with rain and hail in other parts was caused by western disturbances. There is a trough in the mid-tropospheric westerly at about 85 degree E 25 degree N. However, it is gradually shifting away," stated Gopinath Raha, in-charge of the MeT office in Gangtok, Sikkim.

Despite the temperature going up for the past few days, the Kolkata weather office informed that the city will experience the chill once again from Wednesday. Due to the Western disturbances, the cold air flow was obstructed which will resume again. According to the Alipore weather office, the sky will be clear from Wednesday and as a result the north-westerly will flow over the South Bengal districts. Temperature will go down and will hover around 15 degree Celsius for a few days, which is normal at this time of the year.