Amid the chill, Shimla has cosy nights

Amid a chill in northern India, Shimla and its nearby hill stations are enjoying cosy nights compared to the neighbouring plains.

In Shimla, located around 7,000 feet above sea level, the maximum temperature Sunday was 5.8 degrees Celsius, while Chandigarh, located in the plains, experienced a low of 6.3 degrees.

Likewise, Amritsar and Ludhiana in Punjab recorded the night temperature at 5.8 degrees and 5.9 degrees Celsius respectively.

Manmohan Singh, director of Shimla's meteorological department, told IANS that Shimla and its nearby hill stations have "cosy nights" compared to the plains.

"This is a normal phenomenon and occur mainly due to settling of inversion layer on mountain tops," he said.

Generally, the atmosphere becomes cooler as elevation increases.

The day temperature in most of the plains is abnormally high compared to Shimla. The warm air lifted from the plains overlaid the existing cold air in the mountains.

"So an inversion occurs (when a section of the atmosphere becomes warmer) and the night temperature remains low in the mountains compared to the plains," he said.

Manmohan Singh said since Shimla was near the plains, the impact of inversion layer is felt more there.

According to him, for almost a week the nights were nippy in the plains than Shimla.

He said this trend would continue till the western disturbances - storm systems originating from the Caspian Sea and moving across the Afghanistan-Pakistan region - would be active in the region and the day temperatures falls in the plains. "But for the next 10 days, there is no chance of rain in the entire region."

The weather conditions in Himachal's popular destinations like Kasauli, Chail, Kufri, Dharamsala and Manali are sunny. Even the maximum temperature is slightly high due to prevailing dry weather.

The minimum temperature in Dharamsala, the seat of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, was 8.8 degrees Celsius Sunday, whereas popular tourist resort Manali, where nearby hills are wrapped up in white blanket, saw a low of minus 0.6 degree.

Keylong, the headquarters of Lahaul-Spiti, was coldest in the state with a low of 3.6 degrees Celsius below the freezing point.

Delhi's minimum temperature settled at 8.8 degrees Celsius - three notches higher than Shimla and Amritsar.