Thousands throng Shimla to ring in New Year

Tribune News Service

Shimla, December 31

Even as chances of snow remained bleak, thousands of tourists thronged the Queen of Hills to usher in the New Year, leading to choked roads and traffic congestion.

The huge influx of tourists has, however, brought cheers to hoteliers and others associated with the tourism industry. All hotels, both private and owned by the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC), are booked to capacity. However the roads were choked with New Year revellers and traffic jams for hours together on the Cart Road, throughout the day today.

Even though a white Christmas after 25 years brought some relief to the tourism industry which had been hit severely by demonetisation, chances of snow still remain negligible. The Met office has predicted snowfall around January 4.

December remained the warmest, breaking all previous records. The monthly average minimum temperature value was 8.6 degrees Celsius which was 8.3 degres Celsius in 2008. Before 2008, the monthly highest minimum temperature was 7.7 degrees Celsius in 1918.

Similarly, the highest maximum temperature in Shimla this year remained 18.4 degrees Celsius which was 16.9 degrees Celsius in December 1998. Shimla remained one of the warmest towns in the state having crystal clear skies and warm sunshine. This December was also the driest since 2005 as only 7.5 mm rainfall was received post-monsoon (October-December) which is 92 per cent less than normal. In 2005, the rainfall for this period was 98 per cent less.

Kalpa recorded one of the warmest Decembers with the monthly maximum temperature of 14.2 degrees Celsius and minimum temperature of 1.3 degrees Celsius. The previous record was in 1998 when the average minimum and maximum for December had remained 1.2 and 12.3 degrees Celsius, respectively.