HILLS WEAR SNOW COAT

Darjeeling town witnessed a heavy snowfall on 23rd Jan. Snow starts it duty to cover the town from 11.45 p.m.and the temperature came down to1. 7degrees Celsius below freezing, the lowest this season. The youngsters burst crackers to celebrate the snowfall.

Snow covers some other places like Ravangla in West Sikkim and Menam, a five hour walk from Ravangla. The tourists who had come here to experience snow became very happy after witnessed this snowfall. A visitor from Behrampore said that `We had come here several times before but never before have we seen snowfall.` `I had gone to Siliguri to spend the winter because it was to cold here in Darjeeling but when I heard about the snowfall I rushed here to witness this snowfall and now I am here and it feels out of world,` said Samriti Pandey, a student. The temperature of Siliguri was less than 10 degrees because of the cold North Wind. It is western disturbance which had led to the development of a low-presser trough over this region.

`Although the depression is moving away but in the next 72 hours there is a possibility of yet another one forming over this region,` said Subir Saker, in charge of the North Bengal University’s weather station and a faculty member of the Geography department. Other than Darjeeling Ghoom too experienced snowfall. All vehicles were stranded in the town on the flip side and poor visibility aggravated things further. The lights went off in Darjeeling as the landscape turned white. This sudden snowfall caught shoppers and shopkeepers unawares. The weekly haat could not be held as traders could not open their shops.

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