Darjeeling received late winter snowfall on Wednesday, sending residents and tourists into raptures.

Snowfall during the fag end of winter is a rarity in Darjeeling — the last late winter snowfall in the hill town was recorded on February 14, 2007.

Since early morning, Tiger Hill, about 14km from Darjeeling town and situated at an altitude of 8,482ft, received about one inch of snowfall. It started snowing at Ghoom, 1,000ft below the famous sunrise point, from around 8.30am and lasted for about 45 minutes.

Darjeeling town received rainfall from morning till afternoon, before the skies cleared around 2.30pm.

“I set out for Tiger Hill immediately after hearing about the snowfall. It feels great. I had witnessed snowfall earlier but not as heavy as this,” said Ram Prasad Sanyal, an officer in the agriculture department posted in Darjeeling.

“I had almost given up hope that it would snow this year. In fact, the winter chill was on the wane,” said Prawal Thapa, a resident of Darjeeling.

Bhanu Pratap Rasaily, a resident of Gangtok, decided to take a detour to Darjeeling on his way to Siliguri after hearing about the snowfall.

Places like Sandakphu-Phalut, the highest region of Bengal at an altitude of more than 12,000ft, also received snowfall.