Mussoorie: A strong hailstorm followed by snowfall on Tuesday threw life out of gear for residents of Mussoorie. This is the fourth recorded snowfall in the hill station this winter.Shalabh Garg, a local resident, said, “Usually, snowfall is followed by bright sunshine and clear weather but this winter continues to be gloomy and cold.”Hoteliers have also attributed a dip in tourist numbers to the hill station to the gloomy weather. Sandeep Sahni, president of hotels and restaurants association of Uttarakhand, said, “During the first few spells of snowfall, hotels were booked to capacity. However, prolonged cold has led to a decline in footfall. Over the past week, several hotels have reported only 10% bookings.”The Met office also predicted that isolated places in Dehradun, Uttarkashi, Tehri, Pauri, Nainital, Champawat and Pithoragarh districts are likely to be lashed by hailstorm between Wednesday and Thursday night.An alert of heavy to very heavy snowfall has also been issued for the higher reaches of Uttarkashi, Chamoli, Rudraprayag, Bageshwar and Pithoragarh districts of Uttarakhand for 24 hours starting from the night of February 20.Bikram Singh, director of the regional meteorological centre, said, “Places located at an altitude of 3,000 metres and above would receive snowfall. The foothills are likely to be lashed by hailstorm.”Some places recorded rainfall on Monday night. Joshimath received 50mm rain followed by Purola (40mm), Dharchula (30mm), Mussoorie (30mm), Munsyari (30mm), Jakholi (20mm), Ukhimath (20mm) and Uttarkashi (20mm).The maximum temperatures remained below normal to normal in both plains and hills of Uttarakhand. Dehradun recorded maximum temperature at 18.8 degrees Celsius, four notches below normal, while minimum settled at 9.6 degrees Celsius.The mercury is likely to surge as the weather starts improving after February 22.

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