A temperature board at Chowrastha in Darjeeling shows the almost sub-zero reading. Picture by Suman Tamang

Darjeeling, Feb. 4: It didn’t snow but the temperature at noon almost dipped sub-zero.

Winds blowing in from the northwest dragged the mercury to 0.8 degrees Celsius this afternoon, sending people scurrying for the warmth of roadside fires.

Darjeeling residents woke up to a usual foggy winter morning and resigned themselves to yet another cold day with the sun playing hide-and-seek. But not only did the sun fail to appear throughout the day, the cold intensified as the temperature kept dropping.

Around one in the afternoon, the temperature dipped below one degree Celsius, raising hopes of a snowfall like that a little over a month ago. The minimum temperature on December 28 was recorded at -1.5°C and the mercury varied between 0 and 2 degrees during the day for almost a week. However, much to the disappointment of the residents, the white flakes did not come down this time.

Numerous roadside fires soon dotted the streets even as residents scurried to the comfort of their homes. By late afternoon, most of the streets were deserted and many shops downed shutters much before time.

There was a fire scare, with the casing of the chimney at the PWD executive engineer’s office going up in flames in the morning. However, the fire did not spread and was put out even before the fire brigade could reach the spot.

Residents of Batasia Loop and Ghoom reported that water in the pipes had frozen overnight and some of them had developed cracks.

Officials at the regional meteorological centre in Calcutta said the north wind was gushing in to Bengal from Bihar and Jharkhand without any hindrance leading to a fall in the minimum and maximum temperatures.