Maharashtra shivers, Mahabaleshwar freezes

Mahabaleshwar: Thousands woke up to witness a rare white blanket enveloping this popular hill station as dew drops froze with overnight temperatures dipping to one degree Celsius.

All the peaks and valleys and connecting route to the twin hill station Panchgani besides precincts of popular Venna lake, strawberry gardens and gold course wore a snowy look, thrilling visitors and residents. In some places, the `snow` was thick enough for people to scrape, make snowballs and hurl at each other, presenting an experience of a lifetime in Mahabaleshwar, standing at 1,435 metres. "This is unbelievable. It`s just like Kashmir and Manali in Maharashtra. Our trip has been worth," said a shivering Dharmesh Jhaveri who arrived here Sunday for a short break. Later, as the morning sun lit up the chilly hill station, the scenario changed to its usual lush green, and temperatures settled at four degrees. Maharashtra has been facing cold for the past few days, with temperatures in the wine region of Nashik dipping to one degree Celsius. Unusually low temperatures were recorded last week in Malegaon (5 degrees), Satara (8 degrees), Pune and Nagpur (9 degrees) and Mumbai (10.4 degrees). The weather department has forecast cold wave in most parts of the state for the next one or two days. IANS