WD effect: Himachal, U'khand hill stations record rare early snowfall

Shimla, on December 9, received season's first snowfall - the last time HP capital recorded snow in early Dec was in 2012

- HT Correspondents

NEW DELHI/CHANDIGARH/DEHRADUN: Shimla in Himachal Pradesh recorded the season's first snowfall on December 9, the earliest the hill town has received snow in the last 12 years.

Along with Shimla, light snow blanketed tourist hotspots of Kufri, Narkanda, Lahaul-Spiti, Chamba, and Kullu in Himachal. In neighboring Uttarakhand, Kasauli, Mussoorie and Nainital were among the towns that recorded snowfall this week, as opposed to the usual January/February.

While the early snow, after nearly two months of dry spells, triggered winter chill and cold wave conditions over northern plains, including in Delhi, this week, it did not last long owing to comparatively high minimum temperatures.

Meteorologists attributed the early snow to a western disturbance.

Though these hill stations record snowfall every winter, in recent years they have been getting trace amounts of snow towards the end of winter, in January and February.