12 Mr. II. F. Rlanford. On the Co inej-ion of the [May 1, 



27th snow fell almost without intermission, and down to levels at 

 which it has rarely been known. At Simla it accumulated to s 

 thickness of 5 feet, on surfaces free from drifts, and even at Rawal- 

 pindi, at a distance from the mountains, on the plain of the Patwar, 

 and only 1700 feet above the sea, it lay to a depth of 4 inches on the 

 night of the 27th, an occurrence stated to be without precedent in 

 the memory of the inhabitants. At Mnrree, the Deputy Commis- 

 sioner reports the total aggregate fall of January to have been 

 26 feet, but this seems to require confirmation, if by this statement 

 it is implied that the measurement was made in undrifted snow. At 

 Chamba it was stated to be 9 or 10 feet. 



The falls were repeated frequently in February and March, though 

 less heavily, and these additions to the unmelted residue of the 

 previous accumulation caused the mountains to retain their snow 

 mantle down to low levels at a time when, in years of less abundant 

 precipitation, it is restricted to the greater altitudes and occasional 

 hollows at 12,000 or 13,000 feet. The area of the unusual fall was 

 very extensive. It included Kumaou and Garhwal, Sirmoor, and a 

 portion of Bissahir, Kangra, and Hazara. But in the valleys and 

 passes to the north-east and south-east of Wangtu (in the Sutlej 

 valley) the fall was small as compared with former years.* So also 

 at Sultanpur and Plach in the Kulu valley, the fall was considered to 

 be below the average, and in Lahoul and Spiti it was unusually light. 

 In Chamba the fall was abnormally heavy on the first snowy range 

 between the Ravi and Chenab, but on the north-east of the range it 

 was light, and " the Pangi men complained that they had not had 

 enough snow."f In Hazara, the Deputy Commissioner reported that 

 "the snowfall is unprecedented since 1877 (the winter previous to the 

 scarcity of 1877-78) ;" and Colonel Sir Oliver St. John, writing from 

 Jamu on the 28th February, informed me " there was a heavy fall of 

 snow in the Kashmir valley, and over the Pir Punjal range at the end 

 of last month, but I do not learn that it was anything out of the 

 common." Also Mr. Ney Elias, writing from Leh, states that " last 

 winter was a very open one in Ladak, and both ranges and valleys 

 were unusually lightly covered till the beginning of May." 



These reports show that the abnormal snowfall was restricted to 

 the outer Himalaya and the first snowy range ; but over this region it 

 was very thick and lasting. During the latter part of January and in 

 February and March, the weather over a great part of Northern 

 India was exceptionally cold. But the temperature rose in April, 

 and May was a hot and remarkably dry month up to the 21st. The 

 dryness was greatest on the North -Western Himalaya ; the relative 



A* reported bj Mr. O. GK Minniken, Assistant Superintendent of the Hill 

 State*, 

 t In a letter from Major C. H. Marshall, Superintendent of the Chamba State. 



