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At 23.2° C, Shimla sees warmest February day ever
The winters in the hills had been unusually warm this season with Shimla hardly receiving any significant spell of snow. In the last three months, the state capital only received 6cm of snow though there had been intermittent spells of rain
Himachal Pradesh capital Shimla on Saturday experienced its warmest day in February ever at 23.2° C, about 11.4 degrees above normal.
The night temperature recorded on Friday was 14.4° C, 11 degrees above normal, the MeT department said.
The winters in the hills had been unusually warm this season with Shimla hardly receiving any significant spell of snow. In the last three months, the state capital only received 6cm of snow though there had been intermittent spells of rain.
“The western disturbance this time had been quite weak. Impact of global climate change too is visible,” said Surender Paul, head of meteorological centre in Shimla.
While the mercury crossed 30-degree mark in the state, Una was the hottest during the day recording a maximum of 30.4° C on Saturday.
Paul said Shimla had last recorded the maximum temperature of 22° C in February 2006. The city had last seen a minimum temperature of 14.2° C on February 23, 2015.
Kalpa recorded a maximum temperature of 17.6° C and Keylong 7.2° C while the key tourist resorts of Kufri and Narkanda saw the day temperature of 17.1° C and 17.4° C.
Manali recorded a maximum of 20° C, while Dalhousie and Dharamsala recorded a maximum of 20.6° C and 26.5° C, respectively.
The unusually high temperatures have also added the woos of Himachal farmers. “I had planted about 200 new apple trees, but their growth is now in danger. The soil is losing its moisture quickly due to high daytime temperature,” said an apple orchard owner from Rohru, Vishal Singh.
Negligible snowfall during the winters has adversely impacted the tourism as well, particularly in Shimla town. The hotel occupancy in the Himachal capital, which goes up during weekends, is below 40% this time. “There are many factors behind the declining number of tourists, but no major spells of snow is the primary one, which has hit our business hard,” said Mohinder Seth, president of Himachal Pradesh Tourism Stakeholders’ Association.
The local MeT office has predicted rain and snow at isolated places in middle and higher hills till February 21.
