After snowfall, it's sunny in Shimla; roads reopened

It was a bright and sunny day in Himachal Pradesh on Wednesday with overnight snow turning the tourist resorts of Shimla, Kufri and Manali more picturesque.

However, the snow, which cut off the entire Kinnaur district and towns in Shimla district such as Narkanda, Jubbal, Kotkhai, Kumarsain, Kharapathar, Rohru and Chopal, has been cleared from roads, a government official told IANS.

The road links to towns in upper Shimla and Kinnaur were restored by Wednesday evening and state-run bus services were restarted, the official added.

"It's bright and sunny after a day of widespread snow and rain in the state," a Met official here told IANS.

The minimum temperature was minus 0.4 degrees Celsius in Shimla, which saw 7 cm of snow and 5.8 mm of rain.

Shimla's nearby destinations like Kufri, Fagu, Mashobra and Narkanda experienced moderate snowfall in the past 24 hours.

Snow could be seen in certain areas of Shimla like the Mall Road, the Ridge, the US Club and Jakhu hills. However, in Manali the snow largely melted in the morning.

The snowy landscape in Shimla, which saw the day's temperature at 8.7 degrees, will stay for two to three days, an official of the Met Office said. As news of the snowfall spread, tourists flocked to Shimla.

Keylong, district headquarters of Lahaul and Spiti, was the coldest in the state at a minimum of minus 5.8 degrees Celsius. It saw 3 cm of snow.

Kalpa in Kinnaur district saw a low of minus 3 degrees, while the minimum temperature was minus 0.6 degrees in Manali and 3.4 degrees Celsius in Dharamsala, which saw 16.8 mm of rain.

Meteorological office Director, Manmohan Singh, told IANS that scattered snowfall and rain might occur in Shimla, Kullu, Sirmaur, Kinnaur, Lahaul-Spiti and Chamba districts till Thursday.

With the snowfall, hoteliers have cheered up in the hope that tourists will come in large numbers in the coming long weekend that starts from Republic Day on Friday.

"Now we hope to get a good number of guests ahead of the Republic Day with Shimla getting the season's first snowfall," D.P. Bhatia, liaison officer with Shimla-based Oberoi Group of hotels.

told IANS.

--IANS

vg/and/rn