Kedarnath-Badrinath receive season’s first snowfall

The first snowfall of the season occurred on Saturday in the upper areas of Kedarnath and Badrinath, located at an altitude of 11750 feet above sea level. Due to this, mild cold has started in the lower areas.

Between the intermittent rains throughout the day, there has been snowfall in Chorabari and Vasukital, including the Meru-Sumeru mountain ranges of the Himalayas, above the Kedarnath shrine. The upper peaks here are white with snow.

In Kedarnath, the cold has increased due to intermittent rains throughout the day. Whereas, Badrinath Dham received continuous rains from noon till evening. This increased the cold in the Dham. Seeing the cold, the pilgrims remained in their rooms. Kedarnath recorded a maximum temperature of 6 degrees Celsius at 6 pm.

Helicopter service interrupted in Kedarnath

District Magistrate Mangesh Ghildiyal, who reached Kedarnath, said that Kedarnath felt colder on Saturday than in the previous days. He told that there has been snowfall in the upper areas of the Dham.

Light rains fell intermittently throughout the day from Saturday morning from Rudraprayag to Kedarnath. The Kedarnath yatra remained smooth during this period, but the passengers suffered due to the helicopter service being disrupted several times a day.

The weather patterns started deteriorating from late Friday night. There was light rain for some time in the night with a loud roar of clouds, but the rain continued to intensify till 7 am Saturday. After this, drizzling continued throughout the day. On the other hand, the weather patterns in Kedarnath were also rainy.

Badrinath Highway closed due to landslide

Badrinath highway was blocked due to landslides in Lambagad on Saturday due to heavy rains. Due to this, around 3900 pilgrims are stranded.

During the rain at two o’clock in the afternoon, a huge amount of debris and boulders from the rock suddenly hit covered highway. Police personnel deployed on the spot immediately halted the movement of traveling vehicles on both sides of the highway. During this period, 3000 pilgrims returning from Badrinath were stopped at the dham itself.

While 900 pilgrims going to Badrinath were intercepted at Joshimath, Govindghat and Pandukeshwar. Till late evening, the work of opening the highway from JCB could not be started due to debris falling from the hills.