Temperature touches freezing point at Munnar

Sevenmalay and Lockhart record sub zero temperatures

The frost covered grasslands in Munnar on Sunday morning.

The morning hours are covered in a white carpet on the valleys and grasslands in Munnar. The temperature has started touching the freezing point with two places recording sub zero level on Saturday and Sunday. Sevenmalay and Lockhart in Munnar reporting minus one degree Celsius on Saturday and Sunday respectively.

Munnar town, Lakshmi, Ellapetty and Kundala had temperature of zero degree Celsius on Sunday.

Last year the temperature started to dip to minus degree Celsius by the end of December and it continued for 20 days causing largescale damage to the tea plantations.

An official of the Kanan Devan Hills Plantation (KDHP) Ltd said the temperature is likely to dip further in the coming days. Though, it is favourable to the tourism industry, it damages tea plantations more if there is a longer spell, he said.

It was after a long time that heavy frost was recorded last year. How the change in climate could affect this time depends on the duration of the cold spell, he added.

Rush of tourists

There was a heavy rush of tourists to Munnar on Saturday and Sunday. A hotel staffer said that there was a normal rise of domestic tourists during the weekend. After the New Year season, there was a fall in the number of tourists, which is slowly picking up.

The Munnar winter carnival being organised by the District Tourism Promotion Council in association with various stakeholders has begun in Munnar.

The carnival will showcase various traditional art forms in addition to programmes to àttract tourists to Munnar. Tourists after visiting Marayur and Kanthallur, prefer to stay at Munnar.