Snowfall makes life difficult in Manang, Jumla

By Our Correspondents,Manang/Jumla, Dec. 6: Manang experienced its first snowfall of the season in all its four rural municipalities, making life difficult as two feet snow have piled up in many areas.

Konjo Tenzing Lama, Chairman of Narpabhoomi Rural Municipality, reported heavy snowfall in the high mountain areas of the district. However, farmers have become happy after the snowfall.

Kancha Ghale, Chairman of Manang Ngisyang Rural Municipality, stated that tourists in Upper Manang were compelled to stay in hotels due to heavy snowfall. He explained that with two feet of snow covering all the roads, tourists en route to Tilicho were staying in hotels. 

Yangdung Gurung, a farmer from Manang Ngisyang, reported that two feet of snow had accumulated in Upper Manang. He mentioned, “Due to the snowfall, water in the streams has frozen, making it extremely cold. The cold weather has also affected tourists visiting the area.”

Meanwhile, apple farmers in Manang are delighted following the snowfall. Farmer Ram Gurung expressed that local farmers were pleased because the snowfall would help the apple blossom which would lead to better apple production.

Binod Gurung, President of the Tourism Business Association, noted that farmers were enthusiastic about the late-season snowfall. He mentioned that the snow-melting process was going on.

Meanwhile, our correspondent from Jumla reported that snowfall has occurred in the mountainous region of Jumla. Although Khalanga, the headquarters of Jumla, did not experience snow, the highland areas received snowfall.

Along with snowfall in the hills, cold has increased excessively in Jumla. Although it was expected that the snowfall would be excessive in the last three days, there has been only light snowfall in the high Himalayan region. Apart from this, some rain has fallen in the Jumla Valley region.

With the snowfall in the hills, it has become extremely cold in Jumla, impacting daily life. 

According to Mahesh Sharma, Chief of the Hydrology and Meteorology Office in Jumla, the minimum temperature in Jumla has plunged to zero degrees Celsius. On Tuesday, the minimum temperature recorded in Jumla was 1.3 degrees Celsius, while the maximum temperature reached 9.0 degrees Celsius.

According to local Devi Prasad Simkhada, there is concern that the cold weather will adversely impact children and senior citizens. On Monday, the attendance of children in most schools was low due to the winter.