Already experiencing melting glaciers and a receding snowline, the Everest region of Nepal has seen some unusual weather patterns these past few months.

It has given locals further cause to examine the changing face of this unique environment.

A snow-free winter, followed by unexpected snow storms in the second week of March - when spring had already begun - has left Sherpas baffled.

Another unexpected storm in April, which lasted three days, surprised the locals further still. The following morning, on 21 April, debris from a major ice collapse killed three Sherpa climbers and injured more than a dozen others in the Khumbu Ice Fall area.

Such accidents are not uncommon in mountaineering, but this one was blamed on the unusual snowfall which was believed to have caused the collapse of the ice mass.

"We don't remember getting such snowfall during spring in the past," said Manmohan Singh Chhetri of Asian Trekking, which had employed the Sherpa climbers.

"This accident had much to do with the sudden change in the weather patterns in the Everest region. Perhaps this is what global warming is all about."