Kerala’s Munnar nears sub-zero temperatures

A cold wave over Kerala’s Munnar brought temperatures down to zero degrees Celsius on Tuesday, as a Kannan Devan Hills Plantation Limited (KDHP) official reports that the low temperature was recorded at Letchmi.

The hill station is a popular tourist destination but was closed to most travellers due to the coronavirus pandemic. But now, tourism is steadily beginning to pick up once again. While Nallathanni, Sivanmalai and Munnar town recorded temperatures of 1 degrees Celsius on Tuesday, Silent Valley recorded a temperature of 2 degrees Celsius. Visuals showed a light frost covering plants, roads and cars in the area.

According to officials, while the dip in temperature signalling the winter season used to occur in Munnar in the first or second week of January, since 2019, sub-zero temperatures have been witnessed between the end of February and first week of March. Officials say the temperature will dip further in the coming days.

"The daytime temperature dipped on December 26. After that, Munnar experienced cloudy weather and that was the reason for the delay in the temperature dip," the official said.

Climatologist Gopakumar Cholayil said, "Normally, sub zero temperature is experienced in Munnar in the first week of January. But this year, the state witnessed heavy rainfall and received over 100mm rainfall for the first time in history. Due to the unexpected rainfall, there was a change witnessed in the winter pattern of the hill station."

"The change of winter pattern is also an indication of climate change," Cholayil added.

However, that hasn’t stopped tourists from heading to Munnar’s hills and tea plantations, a popular vacation destination after the area was closed for months due to the pandemic. There has been an increased turnout reported on weekends and public holidays. According to tourism stakeholders, the general trend is that the tourists prefer one-day trips.

Aju Abraham Mathew, general manager of Tall Trees Resort in Munnar, said that they received a decent number of visitors after the tourism sector opened. "We had been fully booked for the Christmas week. The trend continues and Munnar is once again emerging as a popular destination after lockdown," he said.