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Ooty temperature hits -1°C as rare frost blankets the Nilgiris; watch

The sudden plunge in temperatures has triggered widespread frost across the Nilgiris district over the past ten days.

4 min readNew DelhiDec 24, 2025 09:13 PM IST

Thick layers of ice have been seen in areas like the Ooty Government Botanical Garden, Kanthal, and the Thalaikundha–Avalanche stretch

The winter chill has tightened its grip on Ooty, with temperatures plunging below zero in parts of the Nilgiris. In the Thalaikundha region, the mercury dipped to minus 1 degree Celsius, while several nearby areas recorded temperatures hovering around minus 0.1 degrees, according to ANI.

The sudden plunge in temperatures has triggered widespread frost across the district over the past 10 days. Thick layers of ice have been seen in areas like the Ooty Government Botanical Garden, Kanthal, and the Thalaikundha–Avalanche stretch, turning the region into an unusual and striking winter scene.

Despite the biting cold, Ooty continues to attract large crowds. Thousands of visitors from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka are flocking to Thalaikundha daily to witness the frost firsthand. On Wednesday, ice was seen coating vehicles, while some tourists even gathered frost by hand and played with it.

Watch the video:

#WATCH | Ooty, Tamil Nadu: Minimum temperature drops to -1°C in Talakunda due to heavy snowfall.

A local, Kritika, says, “… I have never seen a frosting like this in 4 years. We are enjoying a lot…” pic.twitter.com/DweRWvWl3B

— ANI (@ANI) December 24, 2025

Visitors travelling long distances expressed amazement at the sight. A local resident, Kritika, says in a video, “… I have never seen a frosting like this in 4 years. We are enjoying a lot…”

A tourist told ANI, “It’s freezing, totally freezing. We started at around 5 am and arrived at 6 am, and the temperature was minus. It’s a stunning place and filled with lots of people.”

Social media platforms, especially X, were flooded with visuals capturing the icy morning scenes in Ooty. One user summed up the mood by writing, “Frost sends shivers down the spine in Nilgiris.”

Frost sends shivers down the spine in Nilgiris.

this scene in Parsons Valey, Ooty. pic.twitter.com/LLzWObIlTd

— Kishore Chandran (@tweetKishorec) December 23, 2025

Several other clips and images shared online captured the unusual cold spell that has gripped the hill town.

Ooty is Freezing 🤍 pic.twitter.com/hUpxgeEVIX

— Kishore Chandran (@tweetKishorec) December 24, 2025

#WATCH | Ooty, Tamil Nadu: Severe frost in the Nilgiri district, with the minimum temperature recorded at 0 degrees Celsius. Tourists are flocking to the Thalaikundha area to enjoy the scenic views. pic.twitter.com/lQSeRGjwp7

— ANI (@ANI) December 20, 2025

Ooty is seeing the freezing condition, temperature is dipping below 5 degC. This is frost (freezing of surface water vapor) not snowfall (falling snow from cloud), South Indian hill station doesn’t see snowfall. This week, Nilgiris was coldest place in South India 1/2
📷- Nik pic.twitter.com/TufS4x27G8

— Tamil Nadu Geography (@TNGeography) December 15, 2025

Winter gripped in!!
Ground frost are very common in higher altitude ghat sections of TN…
Several stations reports frost or near frost conditions during winter..
Video courtesy: IG page @masinagudi_Vlogs https://t.co/wvWBBfiPLq #Ooty #Udhagamandalam #Nilgris #TamilNadu… pic.twitter.com/69kzTf8GAW

— Sel (@Selwyyyyn) December 14, 2025

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As temperatures continued to plunge, Tamil Nadu’s forest department imposed restrictions on tourist entry to the plains near the Kamaraj Sagar dam, citing safety risks posed by the icy conditions. The move disrupted the plans of several visitors who had intended to visit the popular viewpoint. Many tourists who reached Thalaikundha late at night or in the early hours of the morning were denied access and were instead seen photographing the frost-covered landscape from the roadside.

While the frost has added to Ooty’s winter charm, authorities continue to urge caution as temperatures remain unusually low and icy conditions persist across the region.