Ooty records zero degree C as white nights grip hill station

Amid freezing cold gripping the Nilgiris or the Blue Mountain, temperatures rapidly dropped to close to zero degrees Celsius on Friday, prompting the weathermen to issue a ''frost warning.''

Large patches of grass lands in the Nilgiris district now appear like a white blanket, with frozen dew or what is popularly called white frost carpeting the green grass, sources told Deccan Herald from the district headquarters of Ooty on Friday night.

Places in Ooty where this white frost blanket was observed included the famous botanical garden area, boat-house, Doddapetta and the hydro-electric dam areas including the upper Bhavani, the sources said.
 
“During the last 24 hours, minimum temperature in the Nilgiris district plunged to seven degrees Celsius at 8:30 am, with the departure from normal minimum being ‘minus two degree Celsius,” the Met office said. It became more chilling as the day progressed, the sources added.

“This is not new to us. This snowfall-like scenario has hit the Nilgiris district earlier in the second week of November, though it usually occurs in December,” a resident of Ooty said over the phone. This could be due to the sudden shifts in the overall climatic pattern, he added.

Meanwhile, the Met office, in its “frost-warning” notice said: “Ground frost may occur at a few places over the hill ranges of the Nilgiris district during the next two nights.”