Darjeeling district witnessed this winter season’s first snowfall on Friday. Snowfall brought chill following snowfall at Sandakhpu, a popular tourist destination, around 61 km from Darjeeling town, that stands at a height of 11, 929 feet.

The mercury plummeted in the Darjeeling town area.

According to members of the Singallila Land Rover Association (SLRA), which takes tourists to Sandakhpu, the snowfall started around 5:10 in the evening, while according to them, they are expecting the snowfall throughout the night.

“Snowfall has started in Sandakhpu area only for now, and looking at the weather, it feels that it will snow the entire night, while it could also fall in the lower reaches,” the SLRA general secretary, Chandan Pradhan, said.

He added: “Today, around seven vehicles took tourists to Sandakhpu, with some trekkers also there. Bringing them down will not be a problem like other times. The tourists will have to walk some distance till where our vehicles can go. We can only say anything for certain tomorrow.”

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Snowfall is usually seen at the Sandakhpu area every winter with the same last witnessed there on 28 February this year, when about 3 inches of snow had accumulated there.

Meanwhile, temperatures dropped to around 3 degrees Celsius in Darjeeling today, with the maximum temperatures fluctuating at around 8 degrees in the day time. The town also experienced a slight drizzle late in the evening.

Darjeeling town itself experienced snowfall on 29 January this year. However, while it snowed intermittently for more than four hours then, snow did not accumulate.