Himachal may ring in a white New Year

Hill stations in Himachal Pradesh may ring in a white New Year as the Met Office on Saturday forecast snow in some areas in the state.

In the state capital, a partly cloudy bone-chilling morning revived the hopes of revellers to celebrate the last day of 2016 amidst snow.

"There are chances of snowfall at isolated places as the western disturbances will be active," Manmohan Singh, director of the meteorological office here, told IANS.

Some areas in mid and high hills are likely to experience snowfall, he added.

The Met Office has forecast snow at across the state from January 3.

The probability of snowfall in Shimla, Kufri, Narkanda, Manali, Kalpa and Dalhousie is high from January 3 to 6.

"For the past three days we have awaiting snow. If it snowed, we will witness the falling snowfall for the first time," said Juhi Chaudhary, a tourist who is in Shimla along with her friends from Kolkata.

Like Shimla, other popular destinations Kufri, Narkanda, Chail, Kasauli, Dalhousie and Manali are totally devoid of snow right now.

Though there has been no snowfall in the state since December 25, temperatures across the state have been quite low.

Keylong in Lahaul and Spiti district was the coldest in the state with a low of minus 2.4 degrees Celsius. Kalpa, some 250 km from Shimla, saw a night temperature of minus 1.4 degrees, while it was 1.4 degrees in Manali, 8.6 degrees in Dharamsala.

Shimla, known for the imperial grandeur of buildings that were once institutions of power when it was the summer capital of British India, saw a low of 6.3 degrees Celsius.

According to the Met office, it snowed in Shimla on New Year's Eve in 1990, 1995, 2000 and 2002.

--IANS

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