Dry spell in Shimla leaves tourists disheartened

Shimla (Himachal Pradesh), Dec.21 [ANI]: With winters setting in North India, the travel-loving people throng to states like Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh to experience the chill. However, this year, tourists have been left disappointed by the dry spell and high temperatures. Looking at day and night temperature, there is only a slight difference of around 5 degree Celsius from the normal temperature. The minimum and maximum temperature on Monday was recorded at 8.4 degree Celsius and 19.0 degree Celsius respectively. According to the local weather department, the continuous dry spell in the months of October, November and December has been recorded for the first time in 15 years. According to Himachal Pradesh Meteorological Department Director Manmohan Singh, such a situation has arisen because of absence of western disturbance in North India. "This has happened because there has been no western disturbance in the north Indian region for many days now. This is for the first time in 15 years that no rainfall has occurred in the region after the monsoon," he said. "The weather would remain dry for the next ten days and expected minimum temperature would be six to eight degree Celsius and maximum would be around 18 degree Celsius," he added. Manish Mehra, a tourist, said, "We were expecting Shimla to be covered with snow, but it's all sunny here. It's not that much fun." Another tourist Balwinder Singh from Punjab said they did not see any difference in weather in Shimla and his home town. "I can find no difference in the temperature in Punjab and here. The expectations with which we came have doused," he said. However, the tourists have not lost hope completely and have expressed their wish to witness chilly weather. The cherry on the cake would be the snowfall, if they get to witness it. We hope, tourists do not go back disheartened but with good memories of them getting numb in the cold weather. (ANI)