According to Republica correspondent Bhanu Bhakta Niraula, almost all villages of Solukhumbu received snowfalls on Monday. [break]
Khumjung, Namche and Everest base camp areas in Solukhumbu witnessed maximum snowfall of up to 4.5 foot. Lukla received snow of up to one foot. Other villages like Salleri that are at relatively lower reaches also witnessed erratic snowfalls and rains.
The roofs of houses in several villages were covered in snow till Monday evening. The roads, gardens and meadows also looked snow-white. All the schools of the region have been shut down while poeple of Khumjung village, unable to step out of their homes due to heavy snowfall, chose to remain mostly indoors.
The families who couldn´t store enough food and fodder for cattle for this winter are among the hardest hit by the snow.
Aviation service came to a standstill in Solukhumbu on Monday as no flight took place from the Tenjing Hilari Airport in Lukla, the country´s second busiest airport, due to poor visibility on Monday.
"Only one chopper landed in Lukla in the morning," said Mahendra Humagain, traffic controller at Lukla airport. "Even that chopper failed to return to Kathmandu till the evening. No other flight took place." Almost all flights at other airports of Solukhumbu were also cancelled. Temperature plunged to minus 7 degree Celsius in Namche area.
According to our Jajarkot based correspondent Janak KC, dozens of schools in the district were shut down on Monday as villagers suffered extreme cold resulting from almost incessant rains and snowfall. Normal life was affected especially in the eastern and northern villages of Jajarkot.
However, Taplejung did not receive as much snowfall as last year. According to Chheten Dandu Sherpa, a local resident of Olangchungola, northern villages in Taplejung were enveloped by snow last year.
"However, only light snowfalls were witnessed this year," Sherpa told Republica
In the Kathmandu Valley, minimum temperature rose to 7 degree Celsius Monday as against Sunday´s 3.2 degree Centigrade.
Likewise, maximum temperature rose to 14.9 degree Celsius from the previous day´s 12.7 degree Celsius. Weather experts say the rise in mercury was due to partial removal of cloud cover resulting from the western disturbance seen over North Arabian Sea.
They expect sunny days ahead with the fog over Kathmandu clearing up completely.
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