The Queen of the Hills, as Shimla was called by the British, recorded the highest snowfall on a single day in January in the past 15 years, a Met official said here on Wednesday.
Manmohan Singh, Director of the meteorological office here, told IANS that the town recorded 44.5 cm of snowfall on January 22, the highest in the first month of the year since 2004.
“The maximum snow in 24 hours in January was previously recorded in 2004. It was 57.7 cm on January 23,” he said.
He said snow and heavy rain in the region in the past two days were mainly due to induced cyclonic circulation with the western disturbances.
As per records of the Met office, Shimla did not see snow for two consecutive years in January from 2006.
In 2008, there was just one cm snowfall throughout January, while it was 8.7 cm in 2009, 1.8 cm in 2010, and 8.5 cm in 2011.
In 2005, there was 94.3 cm of snowfall in January but it was spread over seven days. In 2004, 96.6 cm of snowfall was recorded in the whole of January.
In 2017, there was 65.6 cm of snowfall in Shimla but it was spread across two days — January 7 and 8.
As per Met office records, Shimla experienced 62 cm of snowfall on February 12, 2007, the highest on a single day in the past 99 years.
Old-timers recalled that for almost two decades, Shimla has not recorded the kind of heavy snow that used to paralyse life in winter for over a fortnight in the past.
The district administration, before the onset of winter every year, holds a meeting to review measures and assign duties to handle any emergency in case of heavy snow.