Himachal bright, sunny after 5 days of snow

It was a bright and sunny but chilly day across Himachal Pradesh on Saturday after five days of widespread rain and snowfall that turned Shimla, Manali and Dalhousie more picturesque.

"It was bright and sunny today after five days. As the skies have cleared, the minimum temperatures across the state are likely to plummet by three to four notches," a Met official told IANS.

It was minus 1.3 degrees in Shimla, which saw 5.6 cm of snow. Its nearby destinations like Kufri, Fagu, Chail and Narkanda experienced moderate snowfall over the past 24 hours since Friday.

Snow was seen on the Mall Road, the Ridge, the US Club and Jakhu hills here.

Keylong, headquarters of Lahaul and Spiti, was the coldest at a minimum of minus 16 degrees Celsius.

Kalpa in Kinnaur was at minus 7.3 degrees, while the minimum temperature was minus 6.8 degrees in Manali, minus 2.6 in Dalhousie and one degree Celsius in Dharamsala.

Officials said the entire Kinnaur district, upper Shimla and Pangi and Bharmour areas in Chamba are still cut off as roads were under a thick blanket of snow and efforts were on to reopen them.

--IANS

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