Tamil Nadu: Ooty turns mini-Kashmir as mercury drops to 1.3°C

Ooty, a popular hill station in Tamil Nadu’s Nilgiris district, saw the minimum temperature on Sunday drop to 1.3°C while continuing to report frost.

The sharp drop in the mercury along with the frost turned the sleepy and idyllic hill station into a mini-Kashmir on Sunday morning.

However, people’s normal lives were disrupted by the bitter cold, as they were seen huddling around bonfires to keep themselves warm.

The hilly district of Nilgiri experiences frost every year from November to February. However, this year, it started late in January due to storms accompanied by rain. Icy plains were observed in Ooty City and surrounding areas such as Kanthal, Pinker Post, and Thalai Kunta.

Due to the frost, the water drops on the lawns in Ooty and its surrounding areas were seen as frozen lumps. Especially in areas like Ooty Racecourse, Thalikunda, Kanthal, Pinkerpost etc., it looks like a white carpet has been draped over the frosty green lawns.

Up to an inch of snow was found on parked vehicles. Due to snowfall, several people are affected by runny nose, cough and rash on hands and feet.

Meanwhile, the cold in the village, situated in the upper reaches of Tamil Nadu, sent the locals, unaccustomed to such extremely low temperatures, scrambling for the warmer indoors while throwing life out of gear.

Large patches of grasslands in the Nilgiris district appeared to be something akin to a wonderland, with fresh dew drops, often called white frost, carpeting the green grass.

The white frost was noticed across several areas of the popular hill station, including Ooty Nagar, Thalikunda, HPF, Kanthal and Fingerpost.

Up to an inch of ice was found on parked vehicles, with residents complaining of experiencing problems trying to fire up their cars.

According to local MeT officials, there has been significant variation in the day and night temperatures in recent weeks, with the maximum temperature hovering over 25 degrees Celsius.