Dry Shimla, snowless cold deserts of Lahaul-Spiti are alarming signs

Shimla: Cold deserts of Lahaul-Spiti that used to be under eight to nine feet of snow and facing a freezing cold are snowless this year. Shimla has already missed its winter charm—snow. While Kangra, the state’s acknowledged hub of Rabi, is completely dry.

The signs are alarming even as half of January is gone.The natives of Lahaul-Spiti are turning to local deities to pray for snow while farmers in Kangra are fearing outbreak of disease in wheat and other crops because of failure of the rains.

The capital town of Shimla, which used to attract thousands of tourists between December to January is basking under bright sunshine in place of snow and icy—cold conditions. This is the second consecutive year when the British era town has not seen snow. “We can expect serious water scarcity in the summers once the residual snow in the high altitude areas goes missing. The apple crop will also get wiped-out in absence of proper chilling hours which can’t happen if the snow gives as miss to the orchardists” admits Prof (Rtd) S P Bhardwaj, horticulture scientist and researcher.

What has been the most astonishing factor is that Spiti and Kaza—a rich treasure of Himalayan Biodiversity has no snow –a thing which the tribal population never had seen.

“I have memories of Spiti showing such depressing moments of climate change. We used to live through 10 to 14 feet of snow and temperature dipping down to minus 18-20 degrees .This is a wizard thing we are experiencing in our lifetimes. If it doesn’t snow in the next few days, we will see a disaster-like scenario” says Tenzin, an old native of Kaza.

He says there is not even a trace of snow in 95 per cent of the residential areas of the district. After December, half of January has passed, but the glaciers have not yet received a new layer of snow. In such a situation, the concern of tribal people regarding water has also increased. People are now reaching out to Gods and Goddesses for snow. The villagers of Spiti’s Losar Panchayat reached the court of Mata Kunjam situated at a height of 14,000 feet above sea level with the complaint of snow.

“The villagers prayed collectively to Mata Kunjam for snowfall. There is already a shortage of water for irrigation and drinking water in Spiti Valley. The drinking water sources here are recharged by snowfall in winter, but due to lack of snowfall till now, people’s problems have increased. People have also worshiped and prayed for snowfall in the court of Mata Kunjam” says Dolma , a woman activist. In Kangra region, the farmers are looking up to the sky for rainfall as the agriculture experts have warned that the crops may wither away soon or there could be an outbreak of diseases in wheat and other crops in the region.

Ram Krishan Chaudhary, a farmer from Fatehpur said the sowing done by the farmers in hope for rains have failed to germinate due to lack of moisture.

Himachal Pradesh Agriculture University,Palampur has informed that during November 2023, the state received 12.2 mm of rainfall, which was 38 per cent less than normal, while in December, the figure reached 85 per cent. No rainfall has been received in January so far.

All 12 districts of the state recorded less than normal rainfall in December 2023 while no rainfall has been received in January this year. Similarly, there has been a prolonged dry spell in Kangra district for about 6-7 weeks. This would affect crops.

Nearly 80 percent agriculture in Himachal and Kangra district is rain dependent thus the farmers have no choice but to see the crops drying. The area has about 100 kuhls (Traditional irrigation canals) but there is no water in the channels. It’s double whammy for the farmers who have witnessed monsoon causing major havoc to the crops due to torrential rains and flash floods. They lost their crops and now they suffer due to failed rains.