Last week, for the first time ever, snow completely vanished from Uttarakhand’s Om Parvat, leaving visitors perplexed. Experts pointed to several factors, including low rainfall, scattered snowfall in the upper Himalayas over the last five years, increased vehicular pollution, and global warming.

An official noted that prolonged snowlessness could negatively affect tourism in the area. Fortunately, snowfall on Monday night restored the snow cover at Om Parvat.

Located at approximately 14,000 feet in Vyas valley, Om Parvat is a major tourist attraction known for its snow that forms a pattern resembling the Hindi word “Om,” which is where it gets its name.

“It was really disheartening to see Om Parvat, famous for its snow, completely bare when I visited on August 16,” remarked one visitor. Urmila Sanwal, a local from Gunji village, shared snowless images of the hill, stating, “The ‘Om’-shaped hill was unrecognisable without snow.” Dhan Singh Bisht, who oversees the base camp for the Adi Kailash yatra in Dharchula, expressed, “In my 22 years with Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam, I’ve never seen Mo Parvat without snow.”

Previously, the snow at Om Parvat melted at a rate of 95-99 percent, but this year it vanished entirely, according to a KMVN official. However, following snowfall on August 26, snow has returned to Om Parvat, as noted by Bisht.

Sunil Nautiyal, Director of the GB Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment in Almora, linked the snow disappearance to increasing temperatures in the eco-sensitive Himalayan regions, driven by a rise in fuel-driven vehicles and overall global warming. He emphasised the need to assess the bearing capacity of vulnerable areas in the high Himalayas and address the impact of rampant forest fires, as the carbon emissions from such fires further harm sensitive ecosystems in the region.

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