Even today the weather is bad in the mountains and it is snowing in all four Dhams. Hemkunt Sahib, Valley of Flowers, Auli, Nanda Ghunghati, Rudranath, Lal Mati, Neeti and Mana Valley received snowfall while low lying areas received rain. Half a foot in Badrinath, one foot in Kedarnath, two inches in Auli, six inches in Gangotri-Yamunotri. There was rain in the lower areas due to which the cold has returned.
Gopeshwar/Joshimath. There was intermittent snowfall in Badrinath Dham throughout the day which continued till late evening. Due to snowfall, the highway from Hanuman Chatti to Badrinath Dham has become slippery. About half a foot of snow has accumulated on the highway. Snow has also accumulated on Gopeshwar-Mandal-Chopta and Joshimath-Malari highways.
Along with this, there was snowfall in tourist villages like Ramni, Ghunni, Padergaon, Irani, Paina, Jhinjhi etc. in the high altitude areas of the district, but the snow soon melted. To escape the cold in the markets, shopkeepers and passers-by resorted to fire. Pokhri, Nandnagar, Pipalkoti, Nandprayag and other areas also received intermittent rain throughout the day.
On Monday, there was snowfall in areas like Kedarnath Dham, Madmaheshwar, Tungnath, Chandrasheela etc., while the tourist spot Chopta Dugalvita also received light snowfall. Snowfall occurred in Uttarkashi, Gangotri and Yamunotri Dham, Harsil Valley and other high altitude areas. However, traffic is smooth on all roads as of now.
It was hot in the district for the last two days. Now it snowed and the cold increased again. Disaster Management Officer Devendra Patwal said that in view of the snowfall, all departments are on alert mode. Information about roads, electricity, water and ration supply in all snowy areas is being sought from the departments. The weather which has changed since last two days will remain changed today (Tuesday) also. There is also a possibility of hailstorm along with strong winds in some areas of the state. For this, an orange alert has been issued by the Meteorological Center.
Apart from this, there is also a possibility of light snowfall in the areas of the state at a height of more than 2500 meters. Also, according to the weather forecast issued by the Centre, a yellow alert for bad weather has been issued in Dehradun including Tehri, Pauri, Champawat, Nainital, Udham Singh Nagar and Haridwar districts tomorrow i.e. on 21st February.