Shimla: City dwellers and country folks were in for a pleasant surprise to wake up on a late Sunday morning seeing the season’s first snowfall.

Higher hills in and around Shimla wore a white cover as the day work but traffic was not disrupted.

Milk and bread supplies reached on time, so did the morning newspapers.

“It is after many years that we have snow in December,” said Kishore Verma, an old time resident of the city. Till about two decades ago, it used to snow every December and white Christmas was a regular feature,” he added.

Tourists seeing snow for the first time were out in full strength, making the best of the change in weather.

“I have for long wanted to see a snowfall and for me the flakes falling this morning was a dream come true,” said Seema Puri, a tourist from Delhi.

The meteorological office has forecast a cloudy week ahead, with chances of more snowfall over the next two days.

Ski enthusiasts were out for fun at Narkanda as the north facing slopes at Dhamadari meadows had accumulated enough snow to allow free alpine runs on them.

Despite there being tremendous scope, the government has been unable to provide proper infrastructure to develop skiing at this winter resort, said Jagmohan Sharma, a Narkanda resident.

Orchard owners have welcomed the weather cycle, for a sharp drop in temperatures, accompanied by snow is considered good for temperate fruit trees that require a certain number of minimum chilling hour’s exposure to bear good crops.

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