A lone vehicle makes its way through a desolate Hill Cart Road on Monday night, while the newly-fitted sodium vapour streetlamps add a eerie touch to the street. In the last few days, Siliguri has been engulfed in early morning and late evening fog, as a result of which the minimum temperature has fallen considerably. Picture by Diptendu Dutta

Siliguri, Jan. 9: The mercury level touched the lowest point this season last night, kindling hopes of the hill residents of a snowy start to the year.

Weathermen are hopeful about a snowfall in the Darjeeling hills any time after January 16.

?Snow can be expected in the middle and the latter part of January,? said Subir Sarkar, the in-charge of the weather station of North Bengal University. ?The western disturbance is expected to set in after the next 48 hours, as a result of which the temperature in the region will go down even further.?

The effect of the disturbance will be more pronounced after January 16. ?Following that, there is a possibility that the region will experience rain and snow, accompanied by a sharp fall in temperature,? he added.

?Last night the temperature, hovering around 7-8 degrees Celsius, was the lowest this season,? Sarkar said.

He expects the temperature to fall further in the next two days. ?The temperature will dip in the next 48 hours, accompanied by foggy mornings and nights. The days, however, will be sunny. Later, the western disturbance will worsen the weather,? he said.

The minimum temperature recorded today was 8.5 degrees Celsius while the maximum was 22 degrees Celsius. Though the day was more or less sunny, there was a chill in the air because of a cold wind blowing from the northerly direction.

The only place where there was warmth was in the smiles of the sellers of woollen clothes. ?Like every year, we had come prepared for a severe winter, but it remained warm for some time, leaving us worried about our business,? said Dolma Bhutia, one of the sellers at the Bhutia Market, a makeshift bazar in front of the Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad building. ?But there has been a huge rush of customers in the last three days.?