May? Maybe Not: Snow In Parts Of Kashmir And Himachal Belies Entry Of Summer In North India

Several towns in Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh recorded snowfall on Monday, plunging these regions into an unusual cold spell in the summer month of May at a time when a spate of other rare weather occurrences are being recorded across the country.

- Abhishek Jha, Ashiq Hussain and Gaurav Bisht

Data analysed by HT showed that the average temperatures recorded in the three Himalayan states and UTS of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jammu & Kashmir were among the lowest since 1951 and, as a result, the northern plains were also recording cooler-than-usual temperatures.

Behind the trend is a series of rain-bearing western disturbances, experts said. "The active western disturbance in the past 10 days has brought lot of rain, snow and hail in the north-western Himalaya region," said RK Jenamani, an India Meteorological Department (IMD) scientist based in Delhi.

Snow is not uncommon in the higher reaches of the Himalayan ranges in May, but what is unusual is how frequently it has snowed in towns at lower altitudes, including Manali and Gulmarg on Monday.

"The weather does not look like that of May," said Jagdish Chauhan, who owns an apple orchard in Manali, which received fresh snowfall on Monday. "I am wearing full winter clothes and room heating (wood-based) has been reinstalled. The only difference is water has not frozen," he said, adding that he had not seen such a cold May in decades.