Himachal may experience heavy rain

The cold is likely to grip Himachal Pradesh again with heavy rain forecast in the next three days by the Met office here on Thursday.

"Some areas in the state are likely to experience heavy rainfall or thunderstorms with squall or hail till Sunday," a meteorological department statement said.

It said chances of snow in the high hills of Shimla, Kullu, Kinnaur, Lahaul-Spiti, Sirmaur and Chamba districts are high.

The Met department's forecast said the western disturbances -- storm systems originating from the Mediterranean Sea and moving across the Afghanistan-Pakistan region -- would remain active in the region till March 14.

Meanwhile, Keylong in Lahaul-Spiti district was the coldest town in the state with a low of minus 1.9 degrees Celsius.

The minimum temperatures in Shimla and Manali were 9.2 degrees and 2.4 degrees, respectively. Shimla saw a high of 18.2 degrees.

Kalpa, some 250 km from Shimla, saw the night temperature at 2.4 degrees Celsius, while it was 8.3 degrees in picturesque tourist resort Dalhousie and 10.8 degrees in Dharamsala.